Succession
by New and Old
Summary: [Family-fic] A small, young village girl catches the eye of Maito Gai as he completes a low-rank mission in a secluded Fire-country village... What is it about her that reminds him of a certain porn-reading, perpetually late, legendary silver-haired man in Konoha?
1. Chapter 1: A Prodigy is Born

**{(Disclaimer: All Characters from the Naruto Franchise belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.)}**

* * *

*2014-11-11 Edit: Switched from name-surname to surname-name format.

*2014-10-24 Edit: Bold Footnotes changed to regular font.

*2014-08-30 Edit: Title changed from "My Name is Kumiko Tanaka" to "A Prodigy is Born". Changed Baa-san and Jii-san to oba-san and oji-san. Added footnotes. Minor grammar changes.

* * *

**Succession**

**Chapter 1: A Prodigy is Born**

(Posted 2014-08-14, Updated 2014-11-11)

_5 years ago_

_It was early dawn when the villagers found the injured woman, struggling towards the village. She was in labor, a kunai in her back nicking her lung. Their resident doctor was out collecting herbs._

_All knew it would be too late by the time he came back. The midwife of the village tried her best to stop the bleeding while trying to help the mother in labor… but she couldn't do anything._

_The woman was breathing heavily, drowning in her own blood as she tried to give birth and fight her climbing fever. The several words she tried to say was kage_(1)_ and take_(2)_, but even that was in the midst of heavy coughing. Her mouth was distorted in pain as well, so the midwife didn't know if that was really what she said._

_The village doctor finally came rushing in just as the baby's head was becoming visible. The mother was fading fast._

_As soon as her baby – a beautiful girl – was placed in her arms, the wounded woman's eyes seemed to find focus again for a short amount of time, her gaze sharpening on her child. She gave a smile, grimaced at the pain, and whispered - choked - __something coherent _to her child.

_My beautiful baby._

_As her gaze started becoming unfocused again from the pain, her hand started losing what strength she had in holding the child. The baby was quickly taken away to make room for the doctor._

_In the midst of the flurry of activity, the woman grabbed the nearest hand and pulled the person – the midwife – to herself and choked out one more time: _care_._

_The midwife could only nod, understanding the garble for what it was: a request for strangers to take care of the future of her child, compelled only because of her fast-approaching death._

_The midwife could not help but let her tears fall watching the stranger-woman's suffering. The dying woman's gaze softened. She took several more breaths, making desperate attempts to breathe. She choked and coughed up blood._

_The baby started to wail in earnest, as if knowing that her mother was dying. The doctor was doing everything he knew, but he was no med-nin. He was a simple man who only knew how to use herbs. The woman faded away and her shallow breaths became fewer and fewer in number until her body convulsed, and she stopped breathing altogether, her heart slowing to a stop._

_Later the villagers found the remains of a shinobi fight, though there were no bodies left behind. The mayor came to a conclusion that the mother had been on her way to town when a stray kunai from the fight hit her. There was no other good explanation, as who would purposely kill a pregnant woman like this so far away from the large towns?_

_The elderly mayor and his wife, who was the midwife, decided to keep the baby girl. But theirs was a small village, more of a big family living and farming together, so that in actuality, everyone had a hand in taking care of the baby girl._

_The midwife wanted Miko_(3)_ as the baby's name, as the mother had called her baby beautiful, but more people agreed to the doctor's suggestion of Kumiko_(4)_, as the baby was born through the long suffering of her mother._

* * *

Present day: Namura, Fire Country

My name is Tanaka Kumiko.

I live in the village of Namura. My foster mother, oba-san(5), tells me that I am very special, brought into the world by a woman strong enough to travel a mile while in labor.

My village is tiny and small. I love it very much.

Though, some of the villagers look at me strangely when I talk. I don't understand why. They also react strangely when I tell them about what I did that day.

I once heard one mutter under his breath that I was unnatural and too smart. Emotionless, almost like those goddamned shinobi.

Maybe I'm not supposed to hear that. I want to ask oba-san what it means, but I don't want to tell her where I heard it from.

{(S)}

I have very strange dreams. There, people all ride boxes and travel very fast from place to place.

In my dreams, I am so much taller than I am right now.

...I had a kaa-san(6) and a tou-san(7). They hugged me and kissed me every night.

Last night I had a dream that I went to a place with a lot of people around. Everything was so loud. My kaa-san was with me, holding my hand. Tou-san was doing something with a small black box. They were telling me to stay still.

Everything was good. I was happy.

Then a loud sound came from the sky.

We were all looking up into the sky, and I saw a great bird fly away, and something smaller falling.

Tou-san pulled me and kaa-san, running quickly. kaa-san was looking scared.

The black thing was falling towards us.

Tou-san stopped, saying it's no use. He pulled kaa-san close with me in between them. They kissed me.

They told me they loved me.

They looked at each other.

I told them I love them too.

They gave me a very tight hug.

I watched the black thing dropping towards us, onto the building a few streets away, through my tou-san's arms.

There was fire.

I woke up crying, and stayed in my blankets, shivering for a long time.

{(S)}

Today, I asked oba-san who my parents were.

I thought it was strange that I had no kaa-san and tou-san, while everyone else did.

Everyone in the village also had brown hair. Well, Ayaka-neechan(8) had really dark hair, almost black.

But I was the only one with silver hair.

I had asked Ayaka-neechan why, and she told me that my kaa-san had similar hair, but it was darker than mine. She said my kaa-san probably came from a far away place where that color was normal.

Did I have my tou-san's hair as well? Ayaka-neechan didn't know.

I immediately went to oba-san to ask if it was true - if I was from a far away place - she looked really sad and said yes it was.

She told me my kaa-san was a stranger that came into the village pregnant, and that her last words were for oba-san to take care of me.

But... what about my tou-san?

Oba-san didn't know who my tou-san was. My kaa-san came alone and had passed away while bringing me into the world and didn't have time to tell them about who my tou-san was.

I asked her why she was dying when she was about to giving birth to me.

Oba-san gave me another sad look and said she didn't know.

But wouldn't tou-san be looking for me?

She looked away, then gave a deep sigh.

She told me that she thought that tou-san had passed away before my kaa-san.

She thought they were both in a place far, far away, up in the sky. They probably became stars to watch over me.

...Why didn't she take me with her?

Oba-san said I couldn't go there until I was very, very old or became very, very sick.

Maybe kaa-san thought tou-san would be lonely up there in the sky by himself.

…Maybe kaa-san forgot that I might be lonely down here all by myself.

{(S)}

_Few weeks later_

Bandits came and attacked the next-door village yesterday.

No one was hurt, but they took most of the seed money for next year's crops.

Oji-san(9) looked grim after he met the messenger from the attacked village, who was warning the surrounding villages.

He immediately went to the attacked village with some other men to help putting out the fires the bandits had started.

When he came back late that evening, he told us that we were hiring a shinobi team to get rid of the bandits.

Oba-san looked surprised, but then nodded.

Oji-san said they would probably arrive in two days.

Shinobi?

Oba-san said they were strong warriors who protect us from bad people.

I wonder what they will be like.

... I wonder what part of myself reminds some villagers of shinobi.

{(S)}

Green.

Eye-wateringly green.

He was... very loud.

I didn't need to ask oba-san to know that he was the shinobi we were waiting for.

...Shinobi must not be normal.

If they didn't tell me he was a shinobi, I would have thought he embodied what crazy meant.

But he became strangely quiet when he saw me peeking out from behind of oba-san.

Oh, he was called Maito Gai.

I think I will never forget his his name.

And his clothes.

Ayaka-neechan told me later (with a shudder) that the tight clothes he wore was something called a spandex.

Well, he made me feel uncomfortable with all the staring and loud declarations of 'Delicate Blossom'... even if he was saying nice things.

I have a strange habit of pretending something doesn't exist if it make me uncomfortable... I pretended not to hear anything the green man said, starting from those shouts of 'Youth!' to the blindingly bright smile.

He called it very 'Hip and Cool'. He said it reminded him of someone he knew.

He said he had gotten rid of the bandits that attacked and was checking around all the villages with his team and making sure that other bandits didn't try to extinguish our village's 'Flames of Youth!'.

Yes, he spoke in capitals and exclamation marks.

Well.

...If that's what a shinobi are, I don't think I want to meet another one.

...Why would anyone compare me to him? Shinobi and I had nothing in common.

* * *

Footnotes

**(1) **Kage: Shadow

**(2)** Take: Bamboo

**(3)** Miko: 'Mi'= 'beautiful', 'Ko'= 'child'

**(4)** Kumiko: 'Ku'= 'long time', 'Mi'= 'beautiful', 'Ko'= 'child'

**(5)** Oba-san: Aunt or middle-aged woman

**(6)** Kaa-san: Mother, short form of Oka-san

**(7)** Tou-san: Father, short form of Otou-san

**(8)** (Ayaka)-neechan: Older sister (Ayaka)

**(9)** Oji-san: Uncle or middle-aged man

* * *

**A/N** - I'm not sure if want to write this as an official on-going story.

This was a one-shot plot bunny I had while writing Trouble Finds Me, but it got longer and longer until it didn't seem much like a one-shot... You see, I was writing a short scene, not an entire plot of "what comes next".

Well, I tried to only write that scene in my head to post it as a one shot, but the explanations for why it was so got longer and longer...

I highly doubt this story going beyond 5 chapters... but you never know. Some sort of inspiration might strike me.

Leave a review to tell me what you think.


	2. Chapter 2: Konoha Shinobi

*2014-11-11 Edit: Switched from name-surname to surname-name format.

*2014-10-24 Edit: Bold Footnotes changed to regular font.

*2014-10-03 Edit: Changed the Hokage from male to female to clear up the timeline. Minor grammar changes.

* * *

**Previously:**

_Well._

_...If that's what a shinobi are, I don't think I want to meet another one._

_...Why would anyone compare me to him? Shinobi and I had nothing in common._

* * *

**Chapter 2: Konoha Shinobi**

(Posted 2014-08-30, Updated 2014-11-11)

Okay. Maybe ninja are not all loud and strange to look at.

...I think that Maito Gai person was special - not in a good way.

A ninja came a few days later, saying he had a scroll for oji-san, the mayor.

I heard him talking to oji-san and oba-san, so I peeked behind a door to see what he was like, so to go take a long, _long_ walk in the forest if he was anything like Maito Gai.

This ninja had a green vest like the one Maito Gai had, and dressed similarly, with tight shirt and pants. Well, not as tight as the spandex, but tight enough that there was no flapping bits of cloth. He had brown hair, which was tied down with bandanna that had a metal plate with a swirly symbol.

Strangely, he had a long stick-like thing in his mouth.

I sneaked in and hid behind oba-san, but I got the feeling that the ninja saw me. As soon as I caught the ninja's eyes, I ducked and didn't meet his eyes. I continued to peek at him from the corner of my eyes, though.

It was strange how he was so quiet and didn't raise his voice. I tugged oba-san's kimono and whispered to her, "Why is he so quiet?"

Maybe my whisper was louder than I thought, because the ninja gave a chuckle and smiled at me, telling me that I had the misfortune of meeting Gai-san first out of all ninja in the world.

Then he muttered something about how maybe it was actually fortunate that it _was_ Gai, but I didn't hear what he exactly said, so I wasn't sure if that was really what he said.

I gave him a strange look, which he returned with a wink.

This exchange was interrupted by a gasp from above me.

It was oba-san. She had been reading a scroll over oji-san's shoulder.

The scroll had a big fire mark on the outside,and looked pretty serious.

I wonder what it's about...

"Kumiko, please go look for Doctor Hakke, and tell him to come quickly." Oji-san sounded unusually serious. "You know where he is, right?"

"Probably in the herb valley south east from Auntie Yoko's field."

"Yes. If he's not there, come home. He might have gone on his village rounds."

I nodded in understanding and left the house.

{(S)}

Doctor Hakke was in the Tenrai(1) Herbal Valley of Namura.

We called it Tenrai Valley because there was it was literally a herbal garden made by Kami. We didn't need to water it or do anything, it was all self-sufficient. It was our village's most closely guarded secret.

Well, we called it a secret. It was a well-known secret... and only Doctor Hakke and the local wildlife had uses for it anyway, so...

"Ah, hello Kumiko! Good morning. Is something wrong?"

"Good morning Doctor Hakke. No one's hurt, but Oji-san wanted me to get you. He said to get you quickly."

"I see. We'll have to hurry then, ne? Could you being over my herb basket that's over there?"

I didn't say anything, bringing the said basket to him.

As he quickly collected his herb bunches and placed them in the basket, I took a deep whiff. Freshly cut herbs smelled the best.

"Why don't we play the guessing game while we walk back?" Doctor Hakke said as he took the basket, starting to walk in the direction of the village. "No peeking!"

I looked up at Doctor Hakke, my eyes bright with humor and a faint smile on my lips.

"Well, Kumiko? What do you think? What herbs are in the basket?"

At his insistence, I took a deep whiff towards the basket then listed the herbs I smelled.

"Rosemary, clover, lavender, sage, peppermint, and... a jasmine flower?"

There was a flash of bewilderment and surprise at the last one, which quickly turned to amusement. He took out the said flower from his pocket.

"Huh. I had forgotten about the flower." At my questioning look, he explained, "I felt like pressing the flower into my medical journal because it smelt so bitter," He sniffed appreciatively at the jasmine flower. "But I would never have guessed that you would be able to smell it from my pocket!"

He ruffled my hair.

"Kumiko, you must have a dog for an ancestor or something. Your sense of smell is truly amazing!"

I shuffled my feet and looked away, a small tint of pink dusting my cheeks.

"How can you tell the differentiate the smells between the ones in the basket and the ones that are around us? I can only smell the peppermint and lavender, that sage plant over there," He sniffed the air, then shook his head ruefully. "And just a general plant smell."

I glanced up at him and looked away again, even more embarrassed.

"... The ones in the basket smells more fresh and... juicier. The ones that are planted don't have a watery smell like the ones in the basket." In a smaller voice, I added, "and you usually smell like Oolong tea and yarrow, not jasmine."

I peered up at Doctor Hakke to see his reaction, hoping that I didn't do something too unexpected.

I caught the tail end of the shocked expression that turned into amazement as I watched.

"Kumiko! You really have a great sense of smell! I always thought you won in our guessing games because you recognized the herbs you were saw in the basket!"

By this time we had reached the house, and the ninja, who was waiting for us outside along with oba-san and oji-san, heard his remark.

The ninja was looking at me with an semi-familiar expression. A look as if something was he had guessed was confirmed.

Oji-san cleared his throat.

"Kumiko, could you go and start hanging Doctor Hakke's herbs in the medicine shack?"

"... Okay." I suspected something was up when he sent me to get the doctor, but oji-san's actions just now all but confirmed that the ninja was here about me.

Is it something bad...?

I stopped in front of oba-san and looked up at her.

"...Did I do something wrong?"

Oba-san - and oji-san somewhat - looked surprised and slightly guilty.

"Oh, no, Kumiko. The adults need to have a short talk before we tell you about something. Run along now. We'll call you back in as soon as we are done."

I gave her a long look, then nodded.

"...okay." I said in a small voice.

{(S)}

Later, it was Doctor Hakke who called me back.

He had a sad look on his face.

"Doctor?"

"...Kumiko."

He ruffled my hair.

"I... well. It seems that..." He gave a small sigh. "... I will let your oba-san and oji-san tell you."

I simply nodded.

I tried not to betray my nervousness, though my clenched fingers must have been telling.

{(S)}

"Kumiko."

I stared up at oji-san attentively, telling him silently that I was listening.

"This shinobi is here with a request from the Hokage."

"Hokage?"

"... the leader of the shinobi village of Konoha."

"... Ko... noha?"

Oji-san nodded gravely. "It's a village in the Fire Country where the Shinobi live."

I waited patiently for an explanation of what that had to do with me, blinking at oji-san.

"Well..." Oji-san flailed his hands. He looked helplessly at the shinobi-san.

The shinobi stepped up from where he was leaning against the wall.

"Kumiko-chan, the Hokage suspects that you are related to someone in the village... She would like you to move to Konoha, to make sure if it is true, and to help protect you if you are."

He paused, seeing my confused expression, then clarified.

"This person you might be related to is a very important person to the village. You resemble him, which increases the risks of you getting hurt, being mistaken for his relative."

I looked towards oji-san and oba-san.

Oba-san, who always seemed to know exactly what I wanted, came close and wrapped me in a hug.

I pulled her tightly to myself, and asked in a small voice, "Do I have to go?"

"Kumiko. Look at me, please?"

I looked at her. She had a happy smile for me, though her eyes were sad.

"Do you remember the stranger a while ago, that was passing through our village? The one that was mean to Ayaka-chan? Do you remember how many uncles it took before the stranger left Ayaka-chan alone and left the village?"

I nodded, answering with a low voice.

"Four. Uncle Roba, Uncle Saijin, Uncle Doruki, Uncle Fuuto."

She gave a gusty sigh.

"Many people like that bad man, who are much stronger, too, may come to this village for you."

Why? They... don't want me here anymore? The pain of being rejected must have been clear in my eyes, for oba-san flinched when she met my eyes.

"Kumiko. You must understand. We still want you here, but it is very dangerous for you to stay here. The shinobi-san here told us that you look so much like this person in Konoha that you may be kidnapped by bad people who want revenge on him, even though you are not related."

I was confused again... Kidnapped... I think I knew what that meant, but...

"Kidnapped means taken away by the bad people for money."

Oh. That made sense.

"Kumiko, as much as I wish you can stay with us, if these bad people ever come here, even with all your uncles fighting together we will not be able to protect you or chase the bad men away."

I looked down.

I simply said a small 'oh' to show my understanding.

"Also, Kumiko... it is a rule in Fire Country that you have to live with your family relatives unless the relatives are really bad."

I tuned out her explanation after that tidbit of information.

I didn't know that... Did this mean that she.. they... already knew I was going to be taken away sooner or later? I peered up at oba-san from under my eyelids.

Did she really mean it when she wanted me to stay?

I knew she was not my kaa-san. She almost was for me... though... did she think of herself as my kaa-san, too?

Oba-san had stopped talking. I started paying attention again, to find everyone looking at me for my reaction.

I swallowed my nervousness at the attention, and asked the first question that seemed the most important, as it seemed nothing would change the decision that I had to leave.

"Do I have to leave right now...?"

Oba-san's eyes widened for a moment, looking at me in surprise and... hurt? Before I could figure out what I said wrong, she averted her eyes from me and turned to the shinobi. I followed her gaze to see the man thinking.

Before I could peer back at oba-san to check exactly what I had seen in her eyes, the ninja interrupted my thoughts.

"It was recommended to allow you a few hours to say goodbye... but I don't see why we can't leave tomorrow morning, bright and early."

I felt my heart clench. I only had the rest of the afternoon and evening to stay with my family.

Oba-san smiled at me, but I could tell it was mostly insincere, hiding another emotion behind it. Before I could ask her what I did wrong, she turned away again, declaring, "There will be plenty of time to have a very nice dinner, then!"

She then proceeded to tell the news to everyone in the village, leaving me with a guilty feeling that I did something wrong... though I didn't know what.

{(S)}

By dinnertime, everyone had heard the news. They all brought together some food with what little there was to spare, and it became a very long, informal family potluck dinner. I want to say it was a happy dinner, but there was an atmosphere of gloom hiding just under the soft laughter.

Too soon, everyone started leaving, in preparation for the next day's work. All of them wished me well, many giving me long hugs and fond pats.

I didn't know how I gained their affections, for I was pretty sure I kept outward affectionate behavior only for oba-san, oji-san, and maybe Doctor Hakke. I wasn't exactly... outgoing or social, either.

I spent the rest of the night packing with oba-san and oji-san. There wasn't much to pack besides clothes, because I didn't have many toys that I liked to play with; I always went outside to play. I kept trying to ask oba-san what I had done wrong, but there wasn't a chance to talk to her. It almost seemed like she was... avoiding me.

All too soon, I was tucked into bed. Before I could form the question of what I had done wrong, she quickly gave me a goodnight kiss and told me to go to sleep, for the shinobi-san had said that I would need a lot of energy for the trip tomorrow.

After that, sleep was out of the question. I was at a loss to what I had done wrong to prompt oba-san into acting so distant with me. She was still loving, but all evening she barely spoke to me, giving terse answers.

I toyed with the idea of going to her and asking, but a glance at the clock showed that it was long past the time oba-san and oji-san went to bed, so I gave up the idea.

The next few hours were spent tossing and turning on my bed, trying to forget my worries and fears about leaving and going to sleep.

Did... I do something wrong? Did oba-san and oji-san really not want me? Did they just take me in because they were ready to give me up?

Maybe... Oba-san is just feeling really sad about me leaving... so to hide her sadness from me, she didn't talk to me. Of course oba-san and oji-san wants me! They took care of me until now... I'm sure they would have told me about the whole not-being-able-to-keep me soon, and would have adopted me...

...right?

These thoughts kept circling around in my head. The worst part of it was, I couldn't answer the questions with confidence at all.

Tomorrow... Tomorrow, I was going somewhere where oba-san, oji-san, Doctor Hakke, Ayake-neechan, and everyone I grew up around... were not.

I... couldn't ask them to come with me... they had to prepare for the planting season that started this month.

I really wanted to stay.

But... I knew they... couldn't hire shinobi... or some kind of bodyguards... just for me. It was better for me to take up the Hokage's free offer of protection.

We barely got by with what we earned; sometimes, it was not enough. But we were content with what we had, for even if we were not well-off, we were a close family.

My thoughts kept going in circles, never coming to a satisfactory conclusion.

After several hours, I couldn't bear my thoughts anymore. I quickly sat up and got out of bed. I headed for oba-san and oji-san's room, thinking to cuddle up next to them. They probably wouldn't mind.

I tiptoed towards their room at the end of the hall, thinking to slip in between them on the bed.

But... they were not asleep as I thought they would be.

A soft sobbing behind the door made me pause and listen, one hand reaching for the doorknob, about to grab it to turn.

"... am I supposed to just let her go? I watched her grow up! Fed her, bathed her! Changed her diapers! Watched her crawl, watched her walk, watched her run and play!"

Heart-wrenching sobbing. Oba-san.

"Shh...shh... I know, saiai(2), I know. You'll wake Kumiko. Shh..."

"... All those years of praying... pleading to Inari-Okami(3) to bless us with a young one... But... every time... still-born... miscarriages... o-oh, my poor children, being cursed to come to this failure of a mother!"

There was a muffled sound of rustling of blankets. There was a steady sound of someone rubbing someone's back. Oji-san.

She continued her distressed weeping. "I could never give you... I thought... I thought I deserved to die! What use am I as your wife, when I cannot provide you the joys of fatherhood? A useless mother, one who can't stay h-healthy enough to bear children?"

"Yuuna...shh... you are not useless. You are my beloved wife. It was not your fault our children couldn't stay with us. I love you; I don't care if you can't give me children." He paused, and there was a sound of a soft kiss. "...Inari-Okami-sama will give us younglings when it is time."

There was only the soft crying of oba-san and low rumbling of oji-san's wordless comforting murmuring for a long time.

I did not know what to do. Go back to bed and pretend that I didn't see anything? Go in, climb into the bed with them and try to comfort oba-san with oji-san?

The sobbing again turned into distressed weeping and muttering which grew louder and louder until it became loud enough to decipher.

"...not fair! When that woman looked at me, _ordered_ me to take care of her child... I thought... I thought it had been Inari-Okami's blessing for all those years of prayers! A child! Itsuki... I... I..."

"Shh...I know, Yuuna... I know..."

More muffled sobbing. I felt my heart break for my oba-san. She had been always so patient with me, even when I was stoic and didn't express my love for her as openly...

I... felt... guilty for calling her oba-san... I had never seen oba-san cry before.

I had... taken my time to speak my first word, keeping silent even when I knew how to speak. When I did speak, it had been in a perfect sentence, telling oba-san that I was hungry.

And... before I could speak, every other night oba-san had told me the story of how my kaa-san had been injured and had given me to her to take care of... So... I had logically chosen the honorific of oba-san, for I understood from the story that my 'kaa-san' was gone.

How I must have broken her heart by calling her in such a impersonal manner.

The sobbing from the other room grew louder again.

"Then... then... she just accepts that she is leaving! Did you hear what she said? 'Do I have to leave right now'?"

Oji-san was murmuring something soothingly to her as a fresh round of weeping started.

"It-Itsuki! D-did I not l-love her enough? Does s-she w-want to leave me? Does she n-not l-love me? What d-did I do wr-wrong?"

I... I...

I had to set this straight. I did not _want _to go; I just thought there was no other option...

Stepping closer to the door, I turned the doorknob and was about to open the door when oji-san's voice stopped me.

"Saiai... Jizo(4) must have given her to us, knowing we would care for her until she was ready to go on in her journey. She must be ready to go now."

What? ...Ready to go?

Oba-san's sobbing continued, no sign of it calming down anytime soon.

"Shh... shh... We can always try again, Yuuna. Another child. Our child this time."

I felt as if my heart had stopped. Their child? ...They weren't satisfied with me?

Oji-san's calm voice continued on, uncaring that it had just destroyed what little confidence I had of them wanting me to stay.

"Benzaiten(5) will not stand by watching Futsushi(6) playing around with our hearts and emotions all these years. Inari-Okami, also, is not so cruel to ignore all your years of praying every morning."

At that, I felt a phantom pain in my heart. Oba-san prayed to a shrine placed at the corner of the living room every morning. I never asked for what, assuming it was for an abundant harvest and protection from bandits.

...A child of her own? Everyday?

In the end, I was not... their real daughter. I was a stand-in, _practice_ for the child of their own.

I... never treated them like my parents, either, which probably made them want their own child even more.

They... were going to... try to... get a real family... now that I was going away. A replacement for what small part of their life I filled.

Releasing the doorknob as silently as I could, I went back to my cold bed, my heart heavy.

It was a long night, that night.

* * *

Footnotes

**(1)** Tenrai Herbal Valley: Divine Herbal Valley

**(2)** Saiai: (Dearly) Beloved

**(3)** Inari-Okami: Shinto goddess of rice and fertility.

**(4)** Jizo: Buddhist god. Protector of the vulnerable, especially children, travelers, and women in childbirth.

**(5)** Benzaiten: One of the Seven Lucky Gods. Goddess of everything that flows (speech, eloquence, music). Bestows good fortune.

**(6)** Futsushi: Trickster god.

* * *

**A/N** - Kumiko misunderstands oba-san and oji-san, taking Itsuki's(oji-san) simple comforting of Yuuna(oba-san) as confirmation that they don't want her anymore.

I hope the reasons for Kumiko's feelings are logically sound and realistic...

By the way, the whole emotional scene with Yuuna and Itsuki was sort of a dedication to the number of miscarriages and births going wrong today for women who really want children. R.I.P., all the unborn babies of the world, for whatever reason.

Lots of cyber-love to those who Read 'n Review.


	3. Chapter 3: Genma Shiranui and Konoha

*2014-11-11 Edit: Switched from name-surname to surname-name format. Minor grammar edits.

*2014-10-24 Edit: Bold Footnotes changed to regular font. Author's Note Updated. Minor grammar edits.

*2014-10-04 Edit: Author's Note updated. Spelling mistakes corrected.

* * *

**Previously:**

_In the end, I was not... their real daughter. I was a stand-in, _practice_ for the child of their own._

_I... never treated them like my parents, either, which probably made them want their own child even more._

_They... were going to... try to... get a real family... now that I was going away. A replacement for what small part of their life I filled._

_Releasing the doorknob as silently as I could, I went back to my cold bed, my heart heavy._

_It was a long night, that night._

* * *

**Chapter 3: Genma Shiranui and Konohagakure**

(Posted 2014-10-03, Updated 2014-11-11)

The next morning at dawn, everyone came to see me off.

I couldn't help but notice oba-san and oji-san's dark bags under their eyes and oba-san's slightly swollen eyes.

Oba-san seemed to have gotten over my 'rejection' of her yesterday. She had simply apologized for her actions, saying that she had been simply sad that I had to go.

I was about to say that I was sad I had to go, too, but the colder, more logical side of me stopped it before the words made it past my lips.

Let her believe that I really did reject her.

Let oji-san persuade her that Jizo(1) really was taking me away, now that I am ready.

She will forget me anyway when she gets her own child.

Also... perhaps it _was_ time for me to go onwards in my journey.

There must be a reason for the dreams I've been having.

Hopefully Inari-Okami(2) really will provide them with a son or daughter who I could never be.

When I started tuning into my surroundings again, we were at the edges of the village.

Oba-san gave me tearful kisses and tight hugs. Oji-san ruffled my hair and a short hug as well.

"You can come back anytime, okay, Kumiko?"

I simply looked up at them and gave them a small smile.  
"Okay."

But I won't come back, because it is only right to give them a chance to have that child they wanted. I could never fill that spot, even if they loved me to bits. I would only be in the way of their happiness.

I looked around back at the villagers who had gathered to see me off.

...Doctor Hakke was not there.

I felt a little disappointed, but I supposed that he was busy. Perhaps he was called to another village: he was the only doctor for five villages, so there may have been an emergency.

I turned towards the shinobi-san, ready to go.

"Wait, wait!"

It was Doctor Hakke.

"Doctor Hakke. You came." I hoped that my eyes were expressing my relief enough, because even to my ears, my voice sounded cold and uncaring.

He was catching his breath, huffing and puffing; he held out a small package out to me.

Taking it, I looked down at it curiously, slowly unfolding the wrapped-up cloth.

It was a small scented pouch with dried petals of jasmine, pansies and sweet pea blossoms*****.

Together, the three scents made an amazing smell.

"...Sorry I was almost late," Doctor Hakke said as he caught his breath. "I thought you would like something to remember the village and valley by, and looking for a pretty pouch took a bit longer than I thought."

I gazed up at him, and gave him a quiet thank you, giving him a quick hug. I whispered into his ear, "Please help oba-san and oji-san get a child of their own."

I then turned towards oba-san and oji-san, giving them a short nod each, mumbling a thank you for taking care of me until now towards their general direction.

Stepping back, there was a sense of finality when I said goodbye for the last time.

"...Goodbye, oba-san, oji-san."

When I met the hurt and disappointed looks on oba-san and oji-san's face, I really wished I could simply run back to them and plead to them to let me stay in the village. That I would be a great daughter, calling them kaa-san and tou-san instead. That I wouldn't mind being an older sister to siblings. That I would cut off and even shave my hair to blend into the village.

But I couldn't. By staying, I would be placing them into danger.

... And somehow, I had a feeling that they would get the biological child they always wanted soon.

Call it a sixth-sense, but I had no doubt that they would have another child after I left. But for the child to come, I had to get out of the way.

Perhaps it was Jizo guiding me on in my life's path, working with Inari-Okami to help oba-san and oji-san to form a wonderful and loving family.

So I did my best to keep my face impassive even while seeing their sadness.

I bowed deeply, murmuring again, "Thank you for taking care of me."

As I turned away, I felt the burning of my eyes from tears about to fall.

I hid them the best I could. My tears may change their minds about letting me go, but doing so would mean they would be giving up their chance of getting a real family.

"Goodbye." I barely heard oba-san answer back, her voice soft.

The shinobi by this time had turned and crouched, showing his back to me, his face turned halfway to check that I understood the gesture. He did not react to my watery eyes, which I was thankful for.

I climbed onto his back, hugging his neck tightly. My sight started blurring even further, and I hid the overflowing tears on shinobi-san's vest.

I will not look back, because then my careful mask of indifference will break.

I will not look back, because if I see oba-san's and oji-san's face full of hurt one more time, I will not be able to leave.

I will not look back, because... because...

I felt the shinobi jumping, the wind whipping by my ears.

Only after about a minute of traveling this way, I looked back and whispered to the wind.

"...I will miss you."

{(S)}

Later, we stopped to eat a short breakfast in a small clearing.

I think the shinobi tried to cheer me up by talking about great places in Konoha. He was currently talking about a ramen place called Ichiraku's.

... Also... I take back that this shinobi was not strange. The thing he had in is mouth... it was a giant metal needle.

Won't he get hurt? Oba-san and all the other adults told me to never go around with sharp things in my mouth because I can hurt myself if I fall down... But... This shinobi...

Either the needle - no, toothpick - is a fake metal-look-a-like, or he is insanely good at not falling down and stabbing himself with the toothpick...

Oba-san did say that shinobi were warriors... But did that mean warriors never thought deeply about their safety?

...That... actually might be true? Just yesterday I had a dream where I had a older brother who was a soldier... that's a kind of warrior, right? He was always breathing in smoke through a cigarette, which was known to kill you slowly and painfully.

Hmm, how did he explain it again...?

...

_I found myself walking out of a building towards a small alley to the right, near the fire escapes._

_"Hey, Ray, are you going to stay here for the rest of your visit? It's been ages since I saw you."_

_A young man with an army buzz cut and leather jacket was leaning against the wall under the fire escape. He puffed on a cigarette, silently gazing up at the dreary sky._

_"...Ray?"_

_"Maddie, I'm going to volunteer for the war effort."_

_"...But you didn't even graduate from the military academy! There's at least a year before you're ready for war!"_

_"The academy was just to get away from _them_. Legally, I am old enough. This war... I don't think it's going to stay in Germany."_

_"... So, you're going to leave me here, again? With _them_?"_

_"I know, I know. It's just that sometimes you've got to think beyond your own life, you know? Learning how to protect in a long-term fashion?"_

_"... I don't like it. I really don't like it. Ray, please, for me? Can't you change your mind? Something about you going off again so soon is making me nervous. As if... as if I had some sort of sixth sense that you're going straight into the heart of danger..."_

_There was a brief silence, then a short guffaw from Ray ended what serious mood there was._

_"Sixth sense? Maddie, I thought you were the one who always argues about the supernatural, employing statistics and logic! To refer to a bad feeling to try and convince me... Yikes, you must be really worried."_

_"..."_

_"But Maddie, I need to go. There aren't many with military training, and this war needs all the help it can have."_

_I stayed silent, wishing that he wasn't so right all the time._

_After a long pause, Ray, my dear big brother, quietly spoke again._

_"Sis, you know why I started up smoking?"_

_I looked at him, not knowing why he brought this up now, of all times._

_When asked, he would always jokingly say smoking made him look cool, with that stupid, roguish, lovable smirk on his face._

_...And damn was he right. He probably inspired half of the boys in my age group to start up smoking._

_"We have such short lives, Maddie. I'm almost in my twenties, but I've seen almost half of all my academy seniors die from this stupid war."_

_He took a long drag from his cigarette and puffed out._

_"Even without the war, humans have such short lives... average of 60 years, Maddie. I've already lived out almost one third of my life. I want to live without regrets, and whether that be to discover the joys of the exquisite taste of alcohol or taste-testing the subtle nuances of cigarettes... anyway, living life to the fullest. As long as I'm not addicted, I think there's joy to be gotten from the various experiences of life."_

...

The sudden pause in background noise brought me back to the real world, and I found myself staring back at the shinobi-san, who seemed to be waiting for an answer.

Shrugging, I looked away. From the corner of my eye, I saw him smirk, then start doing tricks with his over-sized toothpick.

What was I thinking about again?

The shinobi-san threw the toothpick into the air with his mouth and caught it after it flipped several times in the air.

Ah, right, the toothpick.

Could it be that as shinobi, warriors, they also believe that life is short, so they should live life to the fullest? So the shinobi-san keeps a dangerous object in his mouth as a constant reminder that life is short?

I was interrupted from my reflections when the shinobi-san cleared his throat loudly.

Looking at him questioningly, I simply tilted my head a little to the side, nonverbally prompting him to repeat himself.

"I realize that I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Shiranui Genma. I'm a tokubetsu jonin(3), which means..."

I watched the giant metal toothpick moving up and down with shinob- I mean, Shiranui-san's mouth. It was fascinating how even the biggest mouth movements did not dislodge the dangerously sharp object.

My curiosity finally won out my polite side. I couldn't help it. I interrupted his chatter - something about favorite vegetables and pumpkins - and asked,

"Do you have something big stuck between your teeth? Why do you keep a toothpick with you all the time?"

"...?!" It was clear from his expression that he was not expecting my outburst.

I simply pointed at the toothpick.

His gaze followed my finger, and he pointed his own to see exactly where I was pointing.

For a moment there was nothing but silence while I waited for an answer.

His mouth started twitching, but I only had a short at his face before he suddenly turned away from me and covered his mouth, his shoulders and his body shaking violently.

I was immediately on alert, going to him and reaching for his hand. It twitched violently in my hands before going limp. I ignored it and took his pulse, which was jumping around erratically.

Paralysis? But there shouldn't be any paralytic herbs nearby...

I looked for the paralytic herb, for usually the antidote was found in its roots.

"...What are you doing, Kumiko-chan?"

"Looking for the source of paralysis. Doctor Hakke said usually the antidote was found in the roots of the paralytic." I searched under the nearby bushes, and between the roots of the trees.

"There doesn't seem to be any paralytic herbs... Shiranui-san, do you have a type of chronic illness with seizures? Have you ever had seizures before, or was this the first one?"

The man's silence made me look up from my search for the illusive herb.

He was quite still, staring at me with an unreadable look on his face.

"...Shiranui-san?"

"How do you know about paralytic herbs?"

"... Doctor Hakke told me. There were certain types of herbs I had to look out for if I wanted to play at Tenrai valley."

"Aa... well, I'm not in paralysis, and no, I do not have chronic seizures. I just... remembered something very funny."

I blinked at him, nodding slowly to show that I understood. "You are very strange, Shiranui-san. Not as strange as Maito-san, but strange, all the same."

He turned quite pale at that.

"Umm, Kumiko-chan, you can call me Genma... And Maito Gai... is just a special kind of shinobi. You shouldn't compare every shinobi with him, okay?"

I nodded once to show my understanding, though inwardly I wondered why carrying something sharp in one's mouth was considered less strange than shouting and being loud was.

"Ready to go on?"

Absentmindedly nodding, I stepped towards him, climbing up his proffered back.

We started off again, silently whipping past the thick branches of the canopy.

{(S)}

Later, when we were stopping for lunch, I asked one of the questions that had been bothering me since I climbed onto his back.

"So, what is that symbol thing on the metal plate on the back of your head?"

"Oh, this is called a hitai-ate(4). The symbol... isn't it obviously a leaf? A swirly one?"

He turned his head slightly to show me the symbol.

I squinted at the symbol, trying to see the leaf. I tried tilting my head a little.

"...Aa."

Genma-san looked aghast. "How could you NOT see that this is a leaf? ...What did you think it was anyway?"

A pause.

"...a snail...?"

Genma-san facepalmed.

I didn't say anything back. Maybe I needed glasses like the one oji-san used for reading? Genma-san gave me a weak but reassuring smile that I took to mean 'It's okay'.

"...Anyway, this hitai-ate is a symbol to show that you have come of age and are willing to take up responsibilities of the village as a shinobi."

"Oh."

We finished the meal in silence, wordlessly getting up when we were finished. He took me up on his back again, and I decided to try and take a short nap, as he held me securely enough that I didn't fall.

{(S)}

Genma-san's stop in movement jerked me awake.

"Kumiko-chan, we're here."

I dazedly looked around me in confusion, until I realized I was in front of a gigantic gate that said 'safety' on it, with a smaller swirly leaf symbol and 'shinobi' kanji sign on top.

It was really, really big.

He let me down, and we started to walk into the village.

I couldn't help but gawk at the huge buildings and the number of people bustling about.

A huge mountain with five faces could be seen, all looking down on the village with a serious expression. The first four were men, the first on the left with long hair and the three in the middle with spiky, sticking up hair, and the last one on the right was a woman with a diamond on her forehead.

"Yo, Genma!"

"Welcome back, Genma."

I was distracted from my gawking at the mountain and village by the greetings that came from my left. It was from two men who were sitting in a sort of guard house next to the gates.

Both men wearing hitai-ates were grinning in our direction, waving to Genma-san.

Genma-san waved back. "Kotetsu, Izumo. Check me in, would you? I'm slightly running late for a meeting with Tsunade-sama."

"Of course, go on ahead."

I looked at them and back at Genma-san.

Their hitai-ate was on their foreheads... while Genma-san's were on the back of his head.

Now that I thought about it, didn't Maito-san have his hitai-ate on his waist? Maybe if shinobi wore the hitai-ate in a place other than their forehead, it showed that the said person was slightly crazy...?

"Let's go, Kumiko-chan." Genma-san held out his hand for me to take.

I put aside the thought for further pondering later, taking his hand.

"We're not going to fly-run like you did on the way here?"

"...Nah, I feel like walking so I can save up chakra for a short mission later."

I waited for him to clarify, but he was oblivious to my confusion of the word.

I sighed, then asked, "...What's chakra?"

He blinked and cast a side-long glance at me. He then explained slowly.

"Chakra is a sort of mixed energy of spiritual and physical energy. Both can be found in everyone, both civilians and shinobi, but shinobi train to mix the spiritual and physical energy, creating chakra. Chakra is the energy needed to use jutsus and speed and strength enhancements."

He paused to check if I wanted to hear more, only to find I was paying him very close attention. Looking at me with a thoughtful expression, he continued.

"In most cases, chakra has a blue color, to those who can see it. I believe yours _may_ be white, which only one family in Konoha is known to have. A family trait only seen by one family is something called a Kekkei-Gekkai(5) around here. If you do have white chakra, then it's definite proof that you are related to one of our elite ninja, because the only known Kekkei-Genkai of white chakra is found in Konoha."

I nodded in understanding and wondered what the difference between white chakra and regular blue color was.

The rest of the trip was spent with Genma-san pointing out good restaurants and some landmarks in Konoha. I stayed quiet observing people bustling about the many colorful shops.

After about ten minutes or so, we reached a giant red building with a huge kanji of 'fire' on the roof.

"Here Kumiko-chan, take my other hand as well. I'm going to jump pretty high and I don't want you to fall."

I took the offered hand, then felt myself almost flying up to the big window at the top of the building. It was amazing, better than the feeling in the forest. Going straight up into the sky instead of running along the branches... fly-jumping seemed much cooler than fly-running.

Then Genma-san was crouching on the windowsill, holding me carefully so I didn't need to land on the windowsill as well.

I turned to him to ask if I could learn how to do that too, when something that looked like a small white cup flew past my face out the window.

"Shiranui, what did I say about coming through the window? One more strike and you get demoted to C-ranks for the rest of the month!"

A beautiful blond woman was rubbing at her eyes, clearly exasperated. She was wearing... something that made her chest look very big...

Genma-san carefully lowered himself from the sill, apologizing with a rueful smile on his face. "Sorry, Tsunade-sama. I forgot again."

She scowled, glaring at Genma-san. I hid behind his leg, peeking out to watch her.

"Report, Shiranui."

"Mission accomplished. I just wanted to check with you before taking her to the hospital for the blood test."

She found me hiding behind his legs. Her sharp gaze softened, and she greeted me.

"Hello there. I'm Tsunade, the Godaime Hokage. Or you may know me as the person who asked you to come to Konoha. What is your name, gaki(6)?"

I slowly stepped out from behind Genma-san's legs and gave a tentative bow.

"My name is Tanaka Kumiko."

"Hm. There _does_ seem to be an uncanny similarity between you and that sorry excuse of a ninja." She snorted. "I'm still waiting for him; he was due an hour ago. Promise to be punctual, hmph. Asking me to stop gambling would have a better chance at succeeding." She muttered something about upstart brats better be taking up the job soon, or there _would_. _be_. _consequences_.

She looked up at us again to find us sweat-dropping, and made a shooing motion with her hand.

"Alright, Shiranui, off to the hospital. And use the door next time or I will show you exactly how high you need to be to touch the clouds. Am I clear?"

"H-hai, Hokage-sama."

She turned to me and gave me a small smile.

"Tanaka Kumiko, welcome to Konoha."

I gave her a small smile back.

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

{(S)}

The big white hospital building had a lot of people, but I supposed they were expecting me, because I was led to one of the offices on the second floor right away.

I did something called a medical checkup with a really nice, pink-haired doctor. Her name was Sakura.

She explained what she was doing each step, telling me when it would hurt and what something was supposed to feel like.

She took down information like my age, weight, height and many other information that I didn't understand.

When we finished, she gave me a lollipop. I got a purple one, which turned out to be grape-flavored. She patted me on the head, saying I was a really good patient.

I waved goodbye to her as I was led out by a nurse.

Outside in the hallway, instead of Genma-san, there was a stranger waiting for me. The nurse explained that this person was to guide me to the family I would be staying with until a more permanent place could be set up for me.

He was really quiet when moving and didn't say anything at all. His face was hidden by the high collar of his coat as well as a hood that covered most of his dark brown hair. The most memorable part of him was his sunglasses, which was almost the only part of his face that I could see.

I quietly followed him to a big walled-in area where dogs were barking loudly inside.

At a short distance away from the gates, the silent shinobi suddenly stopped under a tree and spoke.

"Kiba, come out now. Why? Because your temporary charge has arrived."

There was a thump of two somethings landing behind me, followed immediately by a male voice.

"Aww, Shino, you're no fun! I totally wanted to surprise the kid!"

I turned to find that another male shinobi had landed behind me with a giant white dog. He had short spiky brown hair and two red triangles on his cheeks. The white dog had brown floppy ears and a long fluffy tail... it looked really cute!

I was distracted from my canine admiration by the bantering of the two shinobi.

"That is a very bad idea. Why? Because she is a civilian, and she has already had a lot of surprises, coming from a small -"

"Alright, alright, I get it. No surprising the civilian."

"Bark!"

I looked back and forth between them. They looked to be really good friends.

When the two forgot about me for a while, arguing about the merits of using a prank to introduce oneself, the giant white, fluffy-looking dog came up to me and gave me a tentative sniff.

I stood still, a little scared because it was taller than me... But inwardly, I kind of wished that the dog would come close enough for me to touch. Its coat looked so silky...

The dog came closer until I could feel its breath on my face. My eyes were burning from wanting to blink, but I couldn't take my eyes off of the furry animal.

I slowly moved my hand towards the dog, trying not to make sudden movements.

Reaching forward slowly, I laid a hand on the dog's neck.

Tentatively, I started stroking it from the neck down, because the head was too high to reach comfortably.

It was so soft!

I raised my other hand to rub against the fur.

I lost myself in petting the dog, hugging the warm animal tightly to myself. Only after someone cleared their throat did I realize I was practically hugging the life out of the dog.

I quickly let go, though I still kept one hand on its soft fur, stroking gently.

The nii-san(7) with the triangular tattoos on his face laughed. "Kid, I think you'll have a blast staying with us."

The other nii-san who was all covered up pushed his sunglasses higher on his nose and commented, "You will like staying in the Inuzuka compound. Why? It is a compound full of nin-dogs and pup-"

But before he could finish, the triangle-marked nii-san interrupted, "Let's go introduce you to my kaa-san!"

I felt something underneath me, and when I looked down, it was to find that I was riding the giant white dog.

I saw from the corner of my eye the quiet sunglasses nii-san who kept getting interrupted being left behind, so I waved at him as a quick thank you. I thought I saw his hand rising to wave back, but the dog had entered the gates and I couldn't see him anymore.

I turned around to face the front again to find an area full of dogs, big and small, young and old.

I don't know why, but the nii-san started chuckling when he looked back at me, following him on his dog.

* * *

Footnotes

**(1)** Jizo: Buddhist god. Protector of the vulnerable, especially children, travelers, and women in childbirth.

**(2)** Inari-Okami: Shinto goddess of rice and fertility.

**(3)** Tokubetsu Jonin: Special Jonin, or the level between Chunin and Jonin.

**(4)** Hitai-ate: Forehead Protector

**(5)** Kekkei-Genkai: Bloodline Limit

**(6)** Gaki: Brat

**(7)** Nii-san: older brother

*** Flower meanings: **Jasmine - grace and elegance; Pansy - loving thoughts; Sweet pea - delicate pleasure or bliss symbolic of departure after a good time

* * *

**A/N** - Hey, I'm back!

(BTW, ppls, I update my profile each time I post something, so check out my profile if I don't seem to post stuff. There will be chapter expected dates and stuff there. If I didn't update on time, then expect some sort of emergency happened, like my laptop exploding, being arrested, or emergency room visit, etc. Hopefully not the latter two, though. :P)

Thank you guys sooo much for upping the view counts while I was away~ I was really encouraged!

Hopefully this kinda long chapter makes up for the long wait!

**A/N2** - Someone PMed me saying the translations for honorifics were annoying... Really? Should I erase them?

**A/N3 **- Several people have clarified that it wasn't the translations that were annoying, but the numbering system in the writing. Thank you guys for the clarification, and I have changed the footnotes from bold to normal lettering. I'm still keeping the footnotes instead of taking it all out, because sometimes the references are important in understanding the context. (Like the conversation last chapter between Yuuna/oba-san and Itsuki/oji-san.)

Lots of cyber-love to those who review~


	4. Chapter 4: Strong, Intelligent, Adorable

*2014-11-11 Edit: Changed several word choices. Minor grammar edits. Switched from name-surname to surname-name format.

* * *

**Previously:**

_The nii-san with the triangular tattoos on his face laughed. "Kid, I think you'll have a blast staying with us."_

_The other nii-san who was all covered up pushed his sunglasses higher and commented, "You will like staying in the Inuzuka compound. Why? It is a compound full of nin-dogs and pup-"_

_But before he could finish, the triangle-marked nii-san interrupted, "Let's go introduce you to my kaa-san!"_

_I felt something underneath me, and when I looked down, it was to find that I was riding the giant white dog._

_I saw from the corner of my eye the quiet sunglasses nii-san that kept getting interrupted being left behind, so I waved back at him as a quick thank you. I thought I saw his hand rising to wave back, but the dog had entered the gates and I couldn't see him anymore._

_I turned around to face the front again to find an area full of dogs, big and small, young and old._

_I don't know why, but the nii-san started chuckling when he looked back at me, following him on his dog._

* * *

**Chapter 4: Strong, Intelligent, and.. Ad..or..able... (Genma's POV)**

(Posted 2014-10-24, Updated 2014-11-11)

When Genma had wanted a small C-rank mission to test his newly-healed leg, he was not expecting such an... emotional mission.

Genma arrived in the Obake woods after a day of traveling the ninja-way. He started heading north towards the small village inside; it had only been two days since Gai was last in this area.

He couldn't help but snort at the mission scroll as he checked who to deliver the message scroll to. Namura 'village'... it wasn't, really. More like several farmhouses stuck closely to one another.

Ah, well. On with the mission.

It was easy enough to find the mayor's house and give the message scroll to the mayor himself. He and his wife, Itsuki and Yuuna Tanaka, were supposed to be the foster parents of the suspected child.

After explaining to them that he had a message for them from the Hokage, Genma patiently waited while they started to read the letter. He had noticed a flash of silver from the doorway as he was providing his credentials to prove he was really from Konoha. He watched the flash of silver, to find that it was the hair of a little girl; probably the girl of the mission. While the mayor and his wife were in the middle of reading the message, the silver-haired little girl sneaked into the room and hid behind the mayor's wife.

She did bear close resemblance to Kakashi... If Genma knew exactly what Kakashi looked like beneath his mask.

The girl peered curiously at him, obviously trying to be subtle... but how subtle can a five-year-old get?

Then she had the bright idea of whispering to her foster mother, asking why the shinobi was so quiet.

After momentary confusion trying to figure out why being 'quiet' was a surprising trait of shinobi, Genma realized that in the little girl's short life, the only shinobi she had came across was Maito Gai.

So he laughed.

"Kid, all shinobi are quiet. You just had the misfortune of meeting Maito Gai first out of all the shinobi in the world."

Then he had the dark thought of her being totally overlooked, or worse, found by another shinobi from another village. He muttered under his breath, "Or was it fortunate that he did?"

Genma noted that the kid had heard his mutter, and gave her a wink.

So she had better senses than the average civilian. Was it only for hearing, or for other senses as well?

He was interrupted from his musings when the mayor and his wife apparently got to the part in the message where it said they had to give the girl up, for her and their protection.

After sharing a look with his wife, the mayor sent the kid for a Doctor Hakke.

As soon as she left, Genma commented, "Tanaka-san, you do know it is better to keep this quiet."

The mayor shook his head, disagreeing.

"We are a small village, shinobi-san. We all know of the story of how Kumiko's mother came by this village. Doctor Hakke and my wife was the one who were with her when she died. We all contributed to her nurturing and would want the best for her."

He gave Genma a rueful smile. "Even if I tried to keep it from them, in another few minutes, everyone would have found out that a shinobi has visited our home."

"Aa." Genma replied. There wasn't much he could say to disagree. This _was_ a small village, and not so many people came by. From what the mayor said, all the villagers seemed to be fond of the child, meaning that it was less likely for them to give out information related to the girl to other strangers.

The mayor sighed. "I wish there was a way for us to keep her here, as she really is one of the best things that has happened in the village. There were some who were wary of her aloof personality at first, but all have come to see the benefits of having a child around."

He gazed out the window, gesturing towards one of the newer-looking farmhouses. "There has been three marriages since she started to talk, and two of the couples are expecting their firstborn children this coming winter."

"Congratulations."

In the following lull in conversation, they all decided to head outside to wait. After a moment of silence, the mayor's wife quietly spoke up, with quite a bit of awkward shuffling of feet.

"Shinobi-san, is there any other way besides Kumiko going to Konoha for protection? The Hokage was quite clear in the letter about the threats she faced if she stayed, but still..."

"Tanaka-san, there are plenty of ways for her to stay in the village. But does that mean that she will be safe? No." The mayor's wife looked crestfallen at that, and Genma couldn't help but feel a little pity for her. She must have been very fond of the girl.

The sounds of two people approaching took his attention away from the mayor and his wife towards the fields.

The girl said something indistinguishable to the man next to her, who stared at her with amazement, exclaiming, "Kumiko! You really have a great sense of smell! I always thought you won in our guessing games because you recognized the herbs you were saw in the basket!"

Hmm. So better sense of hearing and smell than the average civilian. Which... could possibly inherited from an Inuzuka, or... a person with a Dog-Summons contract.

To put it bluntly, it was shinobi protocol to avoid having sex outside mission parameters. Procreating outside the village had a tendency of creating holes in village security, making it liable to infiltrators who claimed to be the long-lost children of elite shinobi.

This implicit rule was never a part of the shinobi handbook, because it was one of the more obvious shinobi common knowledge... breaking this particular rule was a 'Bad Idea', with capitals. Big capitals.

It was looking more and more like Kakashi had gone against protocol, if Genma had not known Kakashi's personality for himself. While porn was a borderline reasonable past time for shinobi (even if he was reading it _everywhere_ he went), it was more believable for him to have sired an illegitimate child than Tsunade-sama giving up sake - which would never happen in a thousand years.

While he had been thinking, the adults had not-so-subtly 'kicked' the girl out of the house to have 'adult-talk'. Genma glanced at the girl to find she was heading towards one of the storage sheds, one that had a faint herbal smell to it. As the adults weren't really concerned about her, he suspected that the girl often stayed in that particular shed. Perhaps she underwent herbology training under this 'Doctor Hakke'?

Genma pushed his chakra-sense out, keeping an eye out for the child. He belatedly followed the mayor back into the house to find that the mayor's wife was bringing out the tea while the doctor was reading through the Hokage's letter.

The mayor's wife spoke as she set out the tea arrangements on a small tea table.

"Shinobi-san, about the other methods of Kumiko staying in the village..."

Genma nodded to show he was listening. The mayor's wife hesitated once more, then asked, "May I ask specifically what the 'other methods' are?"

"I am not sure exactly what Hokage-sama has planned, but I would think it would involve a permanent hair color change, maybe chakra inhibitors, and other backup plans and details more or less like that."

Genma paused, slightly concerned that they would insist on the girl staying.

"Tanaka-san, though Kumiko staying is an option, it is a very dangerous one. Hokage-sama was clear that it would be best if the girl came to Konoha, and that only if the girl was adamant on staying in the village would she consider the other options of letting her stay. Even one slip in any of the mentioned methods could expose Kumiko, putting her in danger."

The doctor spoke up. "Exactly who is this shinobi Kumiko-chan related to? The letter just says elite shinobi..."

"That is classified."

At that, all the civilians tensed. Genma quickly backtracked, trying to ease their fears.

"I do want to emphasize that this is for Kumiko's protection. We want to avoid our shinobi from getting hurt, and if she is related, Kumiko-chan as well. Sometimes, knowing something is more dangerous than not knowing."

When there was no sign of the tension easing, Genma spoke again.

"Tanaka-san, Tanaka-san, Hakke-san. I know, to you, it seems unlikely that Kumiko would be found out in such a small village as this. You may be right. But we shinobi are a paranoid bunch, and since the last war, our paranoia is still at its peak. It would take a long while before it disappears completely. I'm sure you understand."

For a few moments, no one said anything. Then Doctor Hakke spoke with a sigh.

"... Ahh, I knew Kumiko was special, but a child of a shinobi? I would never have guessed it."

He started rolling up the scroll he had been reading. "Although in the letter Hokage-sama said there was a possibility of being related, for shinobi a 'possibility' is treated as if it is a certain fact, am I correct?"

"Hai."

At that, they fell again into a brief silence, all preoccupied with their own thoughts.

When the mayor cleared his throat, about to speak with the concerned face of a worried parent, Genma felt an instinctual reluctance - he was not going to like the next several minutes...

"Where is Kumiko going to stay in Konoha? Is the place a good and safe place?"

Immediately after the question's meaning sunk in, the mayor's wife followed up with another question.

"Is she allowed to come visit our village?"

Doctor Hakke chipped in his two cents as well.

"Does Konoha have a safe field for Kumiko-chan to play in? She likes wide open spaces... Are there dangerous areas in the village that she might wander into by accident?"

With a mental sigh, Genma prepared himself for a grueling hour, if not several hours, of being grilled over details he _didn't know_. He supposed he would have to improvise, then tell Tsunade-sama what the guardians wanted for the girl.

Parental concerns were sweet, but difficult to deal with if one was not the parent.

{(S)}

Genma had finally calmed the 'parents' of the girl enough to ensure that Kumiko was to be in safe hands at Konoha.

The doctor, Hakke Takao, brought the kid back from the herb shed, sitting her down in the middle of the room. Together, the adults told her the news of her unexpected move to Konoha.

Genma couldn't help but feel a little sorry for her. She had to give up her foster parents and home to protect herself and the village.

When the little girl stayed silent as she sorted through the information she was given, all the adults, sans the shinobi, fidgeted.

She then made her choice of leaving, which really was for the best, even if the mayor's wife was obviously dismayed by the choice.

He decided to give the child an extra few hours with her family, a night to stay with her foster parents.

They tried to offer him a room, but he saw that the house was too small for him to fit in comfortably, so he declined. Luckily, the communal grains storage house was empty enough, only storing bags of planting seeds that made a good enough bed with an extra blanket. The blanket was given freely by the mayor.

He left them alone for the night, excusing himself from the potluck dinner for a village-wide perimeter security check. He didn't really want to be the interloper in their family gathering. As if in thanks for giving them privacy, He was given a very extravagant bento, which he ate in the forest during his patrol.

{(S)}

The next morning was a beautiful day, with a clear sky promising great weather.

Genma noticed that the little girl had bags under her eyes, and a strange lack of expression.

Compared to yesterday's relative expressiveness, her face was as stiff as a wooden mask.

He watched the tearful hugs, kisses, hair-ruffling of the villagers, and the girl's body language. She was tensed up and digging her fingers into her palms.

... Perhaps she was trying not to show her tears to her foster parents and villagers?

If so, she possessed a high-control over her expressions, for her age. Not seen often. She definitely had high social intelligence, with general intellect that was on par with that of a prodigy.

To protect the rest of the villagers, she chose the logical choice of going to Konoha. Also, by making sure everyone saw that she was 'indifferent' to coming back to the village, she was discouraging any attempts made to get her back.

...Or maybe he was reading too much into her actions. She was only five years old, after all.

After they had all said their final goodbyes, he lowered himself into a crouch when the child turned to face him, ready to leave. He offered his back as she walked towards him. He didn't comment or react when her expressionless face changed to that of a grief-stricken one when she turned away from her foster parents.

She clambered onto his back, and as he stood, he felt a his shoulder becoming slightly warm and wet.

He flicked a glance back to find she had hidden her face on his vest. He suspected that her control over her emotions were breaking.

After a nod to the mayor and his wife, he decided to spare the girl any more emotional scenes and shunshined away.

A few moments later, he felt her turn back towards the direction of the village and whisper a 'I'll miss you'.

... Heh. She was a strong kid.

{(S)}

By the time they stopped for a short break, the tears on his shirt had already dried out.

The kid was still quiet and subdued, looking ready to cry again as she ate the leftovers the mayor's wife had given them to eat on the way.

Genma was inwardly panicking. How'd you stop a kid from crying? He started talking about Konoha to distract her and cheer her up.

It seemed to be working, as she seemed to be listening instead of brooding, so he continued talking about the civilian aspects of the village while they finished their meal.

He finished his meal and looked back at her to see her spacing out, holding an empty leaf-plate. She seemed to be staring at his senbon.

"Hey Kumiko-chan, do you want to see something cool?"

When he waited in silence for her to answer, staring amusedly at her, she seemed to wake up, starting to pay attention again. When she found Genma waiting for an answer, she gave him a shrug.

Heh. How... cute.

So he started showing off, spitting the senbon in the air only to catch it again with his mouth after it had spun several times in the air.

She was watching, but she still seemed to be thinking of something else.

_At least she wasn't sad. Or worse, crying._

He tried to get her attention again, talking to her while balancing the senbon on his nose.

"So it's okay for me to call you Kumiko-chan, then? I didn't really ask your permission yesterday. Did I even introduce myself to you?"

He glanced at her as he flicked the senbon into the air again and caught it with his mouth. She was miles away again.

"Kumiko-chan?"

Ah, there she was. Heh, the kid was cute.

"I realized that I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Shiranui Genma. I'm a tokubetsu jonin, which means a mid-high rank in the shinobi corps."

He flicked the senbon in midair once more, watching how the kid's eyes followed the senbon but started to become distant again as she thought about something. Inwardly shrugging, he continued with his explanation.

"The shinobi corps ranking system goes something like this: academy students who learn shinobi skills, then genin who help out in the village, then chunin who usually do a little more challenging missions, then tokubetsu jonin who has missions needing their special skill. So you could say I'm one of the elite. You should feel honored, Kumiko-chan!" He gave her a wink, to which she only absentmindedly nodded to.

"Finally, there are the jonin, the highest ranked shinobi. These are the stereotypical shinobi that civilians usually think of when they think shinobi."

He inwardly gave himself a slap on the head after saying that last statement. Didn't he find out yesterday that she had set Maito Gai as the standard, 'stereotypical' shinobi?

"Well... not Maito Gai, though. He's not... a... ah... typical jonin."

He frowned, as he wasn't very sure she would take that correctly.

As Gai's genin teammate, he didn't want to give her wrong preconceptions by accident. Best let her make her own conclusions after getting to know him herself.

He glanced at her again and found her paying close attention to something on his face instead of the conversation at hand. Did he have something on his face? He wiped around his mouth, but it was clean.

"Anyway, it's not really good to talk about someone else when they're not there, so... What's your favorite vegetable? Are you like other civilian kids not liking vegetables? What about pumpkins?"

Genma hoped the diversion tactic was not too obvious; he couldn't help inwardly giving himself another slap on the head. Did his creativity levels suddenly suffer? How could he come up with such a pathetic diversion topic?

Thankfully, she was still staring at his face, making no indication that she heard the questions or that she was paying attention to the conversation. He continued talking, hoping that whatever she was concentrating on had not alerted her to his pathetic diversion.

"I consider the pumpkin to be the queen of -"

"Do you have something big stuck between your teeth? Why do you keep a toothpick with you all the time?"

"...?!"

Where did _that_ come from? ... Something big stuck between his teeth? ...Toothpick...?

The kid pointed to his mouth. _Seriously, a toothpick?_

He followed her finger's direction with his own. He did not have - oh.

... The senbon?

As he tried to control the twitching corners of his mouth, trying not to laugh at the kid calling senbon a _toothpick_, he realized that Gai only carried around blunt weapons, so the kid had probably never seen kunai before, much less a senbon.

The thought was not much help in controlling his laughter about to escape - mistaking senbon for a toothpick! - though he tried; he really did.

But in the face of the kid looking dead-serious, as if examining an unknown explosive seal that could go off any minute, asking why he had a _toothpick_ all the time - his usual self-control was blown. It was like watching a kitten carefully pat at a harmless object, not really expecting it to do anything, but accidentally setting off the machinery and frightening the life out of the curious kitten.

So he turned away, trying to gain his self-control back.

He had been trying to contain his laughter and had almost succeeded in gaining back his composure when he sensed something moderately fast approaching him from behind.

All humor gone in an instant, he started molding chakra into the senbon to throw and reaching for his kunai pouch when he realized it was the kid.

He immediately broke off his movement, stopping the chakra as well.

He had a mini-heart attack; that had been too close. Killing or hurting the kid by accident with medical care still half a day's travel away in Konoha... He took a deep breath trying to calm his stuttering heart.

Strangely, the kid was holding his wrist, taking his pulse.

Didn't the kid know not to approach a ninja sudden - oh. That's right, this was only her second time meeting a ninja.

Then the kid went and did something even stranger than randomly checking for a pulse: she started to peer around the clearing, looking under the bushes and closely at the tree roots nearby.

Genma watched for several moments, then finally succumbed to his curiosity.

"...What are you doing, Kumiko-chan?"

She answered without looking at him, crawling on her knees to peer closer at a tangle of tree roots.

"Looking for the source of paralysis. Doctor Hakke said usually the antidote was found in the roots of the paralytic."

_Paralysis? Antidote? Who was paralyzed?_

"There doesn't seem to be any paralytic herbs... Shiranui-san, do you have a type of chronic illness with seizures? Have you ever had seizures before, or was this the first one?"

_...She thought he was paralyzed? Or had a seizure? How-? __...Ah._

His shaking and twitching from laughter before. Then the pulse-taking after his mini-heart attack after aborting the defensive reflex.

...Twitching and erratic pulse were common symptoms of paralysis poisons.

"...Shiranui-san?"

Most civilians didn't know that, much less civilian _children_, whether they grew up at a farm or not.

"How do you know about paralytic herbs?"

"...Doctor Hakke told me. There were certain types of herbs I had to look out for if I wanted to play at Tenrai valley."

Okay, this made it official. She had high intelligence, and was possibly a prodigy in terms of understanding and applying the said information. No normal five-year-old kid, no matter how intelligent, remembered the symptoms from paralytic herbs and its counters.

They might be able to recognize and avoid the herbs, but knowing abstruse information such as where to find the antidotes to those herbs? That the antidotes had a tendency of coming from the paralytic's roots? The natural habitats of most paralytic herbs?

This kid was a genius.

...Though her social intelligence had to be evaluated again if she didn't recognize a person holding in their laughter. But... that could be due to the fact that she just hadn't had much experience in dealing with other people. Yet.

He found the kid still watching him with concern, so he assured her that he was alright. "Aa... well, I'm not in paralysis, and no, I do not have chronic seizures. I just... remembered something very funny."

There was a pause while she slowly nodded at him.

"You are very strange, Shiranui-san. Not as strange as Maito-san, but strange, all the same."

Genma turned pale. He was being compared to Maito Gai, of all people? And he was still strange?

"Umm, Kumiko-chan, you can call me Genma... And Maito Gai... is just a very special kind of shinobi. You shouldn't compare every shinobi with him, okay?"

He inwardly hoped she didn't call other shinobi strange hand in hand with Gai's strangeness. He loved his teammate, but to be compared with _Gai_ and seen to be just as strange (or even stranger, if that was possible) was the worst insult in terms of eccentricity...

But... for the kid to just... decide that he was as strange as his teammate Gai... His teammate was putting up a facade to be underestimated! He had not! A facade and the real personality couldn't possibly compare in terms of strangeness! ...right?

This kid was making him doubt one of his most steadfast beliefs... no one was more eccentric than_ Gai_, right?

He watched as she nodded seriously in response to his request, but he also saw the stubborn quirk of her mouth that all but said 'I still think I'm right'.

Genma inwardly sighed.

The faster they got to Konoha and correct her misconceptions of what a 'normal' shinobi was, the better.

"Ready to go on?"

{(S)}

When they stopped for lunch several hours away from Konoha, she took the initiative in the conversation, this time.

"So, what is that symbol thing on the metal plate on the back of your head?"

Ah, an easy enough question. He hoped there wasn't another misconception incident like the one at breakfast.

"Oh, this is called a hitai-ate. The symbol..." Why is she calling the leaf a symbol? "...Isn't it obviously a leaf? A swirly one?"

He tilted his head to show her the leaf.

She squinted, then turned her head a little to the side. She turned away and did not meet his eyes. "...Aa."

... It was not obvious?

Genma couldn't help the following outburst.

"How could you NOT see that this is a leaf? ...What did you think it was anyway?"

She looked embarrassed, hesitating before answering.

He raised his eyebrows to prompt her.

"...a snail...?"

After a momentary pause, Genma facepalmed.

Now that he mentally recalled the image of the leaf symbol on his hitai-ate, he could now not _un_-see the snail. He did his best to pour figurative bleach on that thought, but it wasn't working very well.

He felt like a traitor, but... he could see where the kid was coming from. The leaf symbol did look confusing for a... leaf.

Now that he reflected on it, when he had been a small kid - _before he understood what it stood for!_ - he had thought the leaf insignia was a paintbrush or some animal's tail.

Genma sighed again, and tried pouring more figurative bleach on that tidbit of neuron connections in his head as well.

It would _not do_ for him to see a paintbrush or animal's tail or, for Kami, a _snail_ every time he saw a Konoha hitai-ate or insignia. If the Yamanaka's or Ibiki got even a hint of _that_, he'd be pulled to T&I for a psych checkup. Not fun. No, not fun at all.

He saw Kumiko being sheepish for being unable to see the leaf and gave her a reassuring smile. "... Anyway, this hitai-ate is a symbol to show that you have come of age and are willing to take up responsibilities of the village as a shinobi."

_And an implicit vow to take up the Will of Fire: to protect and cherish and love Konoha._

"Oh."

The rest of the meal was silent, both of us in a reflective mood. She was a quiet kid, not feeling too uncomfortable in the silence. Genma was grateful, as he had had to deal with loud, annoying children too many times.

He got up when she finished, and crouched to let her up on his back for the last leg of the journey.

Ten minutes later, he noticed her grip loosening. He turned slightly to see her sleepy, half-closed eyes, drooping open and closed as she was about to fall asleep.

...That was actually... really cute.

He shifted mid-jump to place her in a more comfortable position, tightening his hold to secure her better.

If asked, Genma would claim that Kumiko's small puff of breath on his neck had made him ticklish. But had anyone witnessed the actual moment when Kumiko snuggled into Genma's neck with a small mumble, they would have seen that Genma, the imperturbable tokubetsu jonin, had cracked a 'loving-oji-san' smile(1).

{(S)}

When they arrived in Konoha, Genma stopped before the gates.

"Kumiko-chan, we're here."

As she woke up from the stop in movement, her confused and dazed face was... cute. After he let her down, she rubbed her eyes and yawned.

Genma didn't use 'adorable' to describe things often, but... that... was ad...or...able.

They walked towards the village, passing the gates. He glanced at the kid to see her gawking at Hokage Mountain, as well as the village people milling about the marketplace. He supposed that it was a large number of people for a girl from Namura 'village'.

He greeted Kotetsu and Izumo, signing to them to let Tsunade-sama know that Kumiko had arrived. As Kotetsu answered him verbally and Izumo signed in confirmation, Genma watched Kumiko from the corner of his eye to see her look back and forth from the two chunin and himself.

She had that serious thinking face again, and Genma could practically see her spacing out.

...She was probably comparing them to Gai in her head. He sighed, and hoped her misconceptions about shinobi was in the process of correcting itself soon.

Genma took her hand and prepared to walk, planning to show her around Konoha on the way to Hokage Tower.

As they started walking, Kumiko asked a question. "We're not going to fly-run like you did on the way here?"

...Fly-run? Oh, shunshin. Shunshin was too quick for civilian to get a look around the village.

So he made a small white lie, wanting to show her around her future home, but not wishing to be a total laughingstock among his peers about having _feelings_. "Nah, I feel like walking so I can save up chakra for a short mission later."

He did need to go on a mission _later_, like, tomorrow later; also, he did have to _save chakra_ for a short mission, like, after a challenging mission - so technically, he wasn't lying.

Genma knew that, at least this time, his lie was pretty credible. So why was she staring at him like that?

"...What is chakra?"

He blinked. He inwardly gave a sigh in relief, because for some reason, getting caught lying to this particular little girl seemed... undesirable. Genma recited the standard explanation for chakra.

"Chakra is a sort of mixed energy of spiritual and physical energy. Both can be found in everyone, both civilians and shinobi, but shinobi train to mix the spiritual and physical energy, creating chakra."

Inwardly, Genma added, _Some people trained to use only the spiritual or only the physical energy, but that was the minority and not used often_.

"Chakra is the energy needed to use jutsus and speed and strength enhancements."

He looked back at the kid, expecting her to be confused.

She was staring intently at him, eyes twinkling with interest. He continued.

"In most cases, chakra has a blue color, to those who can see it. I believe yours _may_ be white, which only one family in Konoha is known to have. A family trait only seen by one family is something called a Kekkei-Gekkai around here. If you do have white chakra, then it's definite proof that you are related to one of our elite ninja, because the only known Kekkei-Genkai of white chakra is found in Konoha."

He watched as she absorbed that information, nodding slowly in understanding.

Genma shrugged. Only time would tell if she understand the explanation enough to apply it herself.

He started pointing out some notable places for her, starting with the Konoha marketplace, which was bustling with people and merchants selling their wares.

The two continued walking through the streets, with Genma occasionally pointing out a good restaurant or landmark to the small child.

About ten minutes later, they reached Hokage Tower.

In front of the building, Genma deliberated between taking the stairs and chakra-jumping through the window.

If he had been alone, he would have taken the stairs, as he had earned enough of Tsunade-sama's ire for using the window instead of the door these past few weeks.

But... during the trip, Kumiko seemed to enjoy the shunshin, and he wanted to give her last ride.

Of course, he had _no_ idea or even _slightest_ inkling that having Kumiko with him as he came through the window would act as a shield from Tsunade-sama's wrath.

"Here Kumiko-chan, take my other hand as well. I'm going to jump pretty high and I don't want you to fall."

Genma decided that the muted delight in Kumiko's face was worth the risk of Tsunade-sama's wrath. He felt the tugging of the corners of his mouth as his mouth attempted to make another 'loving-oji-san' smile.

Fortunately for his reputation as Genma, the imperturbable tokubetsu jonin, the half-smile slipped off his face when a white sake cup flew past his face.

Unfortunately for his status of well-being, he felt his impending doom as his face paled with the realization that his Hokage had _missed hitting him on purpose_.

"Shiranui, what did I say about coming through the window? One more strike and you get demoted to C-ranks for the rest of the month!"

Tsunade-sama was signing with her fingers as she rubbed her closed eyes, telling him to report after taking the child to the hospital, and to use _the door_,_ not the window_, _dammit_.

He tried to stay calm, breathing slowly and keeping his heart-beat slow and regular.

Kumiko was slowly creeping behind his leg, taking shelter from the scowl on Tsunade-sama's face... and Genma couldn't help but wish that he could do the same, hiding behind something or someone else.

_Come on, Genma, you can do this... Kumiko is looking at you for guidance... She is meeting Tsunade-sama for the first time and doesn't know that Tsunade-sama is actually not that scary... to children..._

With a (very fake) rueful grin, Genma cheerfully commented, "Sorry, Tsunade-sama. I forgot again."

A beat of silence.

_Oh Crap. Tsunade-sama had that... that... glint in her eyes that most ANBU termed 'contemplating the use of extensive medical knowledge and chakra to inflict the most pain in the most horrifying manner'._

"Report, Shiranui."

Genma swallowed, telling himself that there couldn't be that big of a consequence to using the window, and hoped that she would overlook it, believing that he really did forget.

...But he saw the glare that he was still receiving from Tsunade-sama, and regretted his decision and his faulty reasoning of thinking that Kumiko had been enough of a shield for Tsunade-sama to not dole out punishment on him.

He was much more subdued as he responded to her verbal command.

"Mission accomplished. I just wanted to check with you before taking her to the hospital for the blood test."

Tsunade-sama gave Genma a long glare promising _consequences_ if he used the window again, then softened her glare when she turned to Kumiko.

Hmm... He had expected either a chakra-laden finger-flick to the head or a month of D-rank missions... So perhaps the plan of using Kumiko-chan as a shield had actually worked.

"Hello there. I'm Tsunade, the Godaime Hokage. Or you may know me as the person who asked you to come to Konoha. What is your name, gaki?

Kumiko made a little awkward bow, looking quite nervous. Genma fought the tugging corners of his mouth from another appearance of the 'loving-oji-san' smile, only just barely controlling the smile from showing.

"My name is Tanaka Kumiko."

"Hm. There _does_ seem to be an uncanny similarity between you and that sorry excuse of a ninja. I'm still waiting for him; he was due an hour ago."

Tsunade-sama started muttering, ranting to herself about Kakashi's not-so-commendable habits and tendencies. "Promise to be punctual, hmph. Asking me to stop gambling would have a better chance of succeeding."

Genma knew what Tsunade-sama was doing - testing the sensitiveness of Kumiko's hearing, as well as checking for body language that would betray interest in Kakashi - just in case she was an infiltrator trying to find more about him.

"Not used to the paperwork, pfft. More like, doing everything to _avoid_ it. That upstart brat better get up off his backside and take up this job soon, or there _will_. _be_. _consequences_."

Genma couldn't help flinching at Tsunade-sama's last several words. Though the mutters were to determine Kumiko's hearing range, he couldn't help but think that some of her true annoyance at Kakashi was showing through her forceful words near the end.

He observed Kumiko, who gave no sign of recognition at Kakashi's characterization traits and simply looked puzzled. In fact, she didn't seem that interested in the chronically late shinobi at all, more interested in Tsunade-sama's office and the view of Hokage Mountain.

It didn't seem very likely that Kumiko was an infiltrator.

Tsunade-sama looked like she came to a similar conclusion.

"Alright Shiranui, off to the hospital. And use the door next time, or I will show you exactly how high you need to be to touch the clouds. Am I clear?"

As she made a shooing motion with her hand, Tsunade-sama signed to him to tell the medic to check for a sleeper-seal, just in case.

...And to use the door, _or else_.

"H-hai, Hokage-sama."

Tsunade-sama turned away from him and gave a small, genuine smile at Kumiko.

"Tanaka Kumiko, welcome to Konoha."

Kumiko gave a small smile in response. At her small but bright smile, Genma couldn't help feel another tug on the corners of his lips as his mouth attempted another 'loving-oji-san' smile.

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

At Kumiko's attempt at being formal, his mouth finally succeeded in making the smile. (It was hidden behind a hand, so his reputation was still intact)

...She was really... ad...or...able.

* * *

Footnotes:

**(1)** **'Loving-oji-san' smile (Loving-uncle smile)**: This is a smile most people have on their faces when watching/seeing something cute and innocent (like twin babies 'talking', a kitten falling asleep while eating, a puppy chasing its tail, and everything cute and innocent that makes one go 'Dawwwww...').

It is called a 'loving-_oji_-san' smile because even the most macho of guys are said to automatically start practicing this smile when they become a daddy to a little baby-girl.

Some countries call this smile a "Daddy-smile", because the feeling when smiling this smile is said to be similar to the feelings dads/fathers have when wishing "to protect his cute little daughter from the 'yuckiness' of boys". (Quote by an anonymous dad)

...This is a term that will be used often in the upcoming chapters.

* * *

**A/N** - Yes, yes, I know. IT'S A FILLER CHAPTER.

I wanted to put this with the original chapter four, but realized it became a way, way too long chapter for me to deal with, so... deal with it.

This story will soon be changed from **K+** rating to a **T**, because there will be language and I think it's better to indulge in paranoia than be careless and be sorry for it later.

...

Well, if you liked it, review, telling me what you liked! If you didn't, review** why**!

Full of cyber-love for my reviewers, followers, favoriters, and full of cyber-love for all _potential_ reviewers, followers, favoriters;

New and Old


	5. Chapter 5: Kakashi, Are You Ready?

*2014-11-11 Edit: Changed several word choices. Added small details of descriptions. Switched from name-surname to surname-name format. Minor grammar edits.

* * *

**Previously:**

_Tsunade-sama turned away from him and gave a small, genuine smile at Kumiko._

_"Tanaka Kumiko, welcome to Konoha."_

_Kumiko gave a small smile in response. At her small but bright smile, Genma couldn't help feel another tug on the corners of his lips as his mouth attempted another 'loving-oji-san' smile._

_"Hai, Hokage-sama."_

_At Kumiko's attempt at being formal, his mouth finally succeeded in making the smile. (It was hidden behind a hand, so his reputation was still intact)_

_...She was really... ad...or...able._

* * *

**Chapter 5: Kakashi, Are You Ready?**

(Posted 2014-10-30, Updated 2014-11-11)

Kakashi had a sense of foreboding today.

Perhaps it was because he had escaped the grasps of paperwork he was supposed to be doing.

Perhaps it was because he was late for the clan council meeting he had been supposed to attend along with the Hokage.

Perhaps it was because he had talked to Obito, Rin, and Sensei at the Memorial Stone for the first time since the last war.

"Kakashi, My Eternal Rival!"

...Or perhaps it was because he had gained another sense that recognized the approach of Gai.

"... Hm." Kakashi focused back on his Icha Icha Paradise, pretending to read the book even though he had already memorized the book from cover to cover.

"Yosh! I have just completed a short mission at the village of Namura, north of Obake Woods! I met a curious little girl with silver hair and a Hip and Cool attitude like yours!"

Gai spun around and gave a disappointed frown to Kakashi.

"You must have partaken in the Unyouthful activities described in your Unyouthful orange book!"

Kakashi had to take a moment to understand what Gai was talking about, which was, flabbergastingly enough, not a challenge. Then the meaning of the message finished filtering through his Gai-speak translator.

"... Ha?"

To the common passerby and the majority of the ninja alike, there wasn't much difference in Kakashi's reaction from the ones he usually gave Gai when responding to a challenge. The lazy drawl was there, the posture of ignorance was there; he was a picture of impassiveness.

But Gai knew better: he saw the tenseness of Kakashi's body posture, the tiny widening of the eyes, and the minuscule movement under the mask that told of a slight gaping mouth.

Gai became quiet and more subdued in his movements, a sign showing his seriousness.

"You didn't, did you?"

Kakashi slowly gave a shake of his head.

"Icha is Icha. Porn. I never... perhaps a long-lost relative?"

Gai gave a small shake of the head in disagreement.

"No, there were too many similarities... Anyway, Tsunade-sama wants you in the office right away."

As Kakashi stood from his spot under the tree, Gai gave him a thumbs up and a much smaller, yet sincere, smile.

"I'll keep this quiet."

With a nod, Kakashi finished his handseals and shunshined away, leaving fluttering leaves behind.

{(S)}

Tsunade was having a bad day. Shizune and Sakura had found her secret stashes of sake - both of them - and had confiscated them all. On top of this, the silver-haired _brat_ decided not to show up for the council of clans meeting he was supposed to take charge of. She had to reschedule it several hours later than planned while presiding over the more... urgent proceedings herself. But this still would have been a normal, somewhat everyday occurrence, if not Gai dropped that bombshell of a report.

"Gai. Get Kakashi in here _right_. _now_."

"Hai!"

She rubbed her eyes.

It was procedure to keep from procreating outside the village, but Kakashi in particular didn't seem the type to actively participate in... lovemaking. He _was_ a pervert, but so were many others; loving porn didn't mean he actually participated. For him, the porn was more of a... method of coping and a source of entertainment, mainly by watching others' reactions of his public readings.

Also, the brat she watched grow up had always stuck to procedures and rules, only going against it in the direst of situations, mainly ones involving a teammate's safety.

... Except for the being late thing. And as that was a tribute to his friend the Uchiha brat, it was pardoned... most of the time.

With a deep sigh, Tsunade rubbed at the frown-lines between her eyebrows.

What was it about Team 7 that kept getting its members into trouble? Wasn't 7 a supposedly lucky number?

Starting from her grandfather, then Hiruzen-sensei, then Jiraya's brats, then Minato-brat's team, then Kakashi-brat's team... Huh, now that she thought about it, only one person from each team had genin-brat-underlings.

Perhaps making all of them take on genin teams would distribute the bad luck more evenly over the teams?

Hmm... A plausible theory. Team 7 _had_ gone through a period with considerably less trouble-filled missions after Sai and Tenzo became honorary members. Though, 'considerably less' meaning their missions above a D-rank ended up being reassigned to a high A- or low S-rank instead of an S-rank or unranked. Perhaps increasing the number of people to distribute the bad luck, by making all of the currently free Team 7 jonin to take on genin teams...

As she was considering the different methods of tricking the current holders of the Team 7 membership title to take on genin teams, she noticed Kakashi's chakra signature forming outside the window.

She was very tempted to throw a paperweight at him for being the ten-thousandth ninja to come through the _window_, not the _door_, but decided to overlook it, just this once.

She studiously ignored the small voice in her head that grumbled she overlooked _all_ the ninja going through her window, only giving away death-threats, dodge-training, and minor Killer-Intent instead of actual punishment.

She kept her eyes closed and motioned towards the area in front of her desk.

Only once Kakashi's chakra signature was in front of her desk for a few tense seconds did she stop rubbing her frown-lines and open her eyes to face him.

"Well? What do you have to say for yourself?"

"Tsunade-sama, I did not go against protocols." Kakashi coughed. "Not that I have... um... not... slept with anyone, but just not outside the village. Ahem,"

Tsunade was tempted to laugh at Kakashi-brat's embarrassment. He had been shameless about his public porn-reading, but to be this embarrassed while talking about sex! It was hilarious.

Kakashi found his composure once more and repeated himself formally.

"I wish to make clear that I stayed within protocols and committed no such actions outside the village. What similarities there are, I suggest it to be... a very unfortunate coincidence, coming from being distantly-related."

"... Hm."

Tsunade knitted her hands in front of her face, leaning into it and purposely looking intimidating with her poker-face. She inwardly smirked, knowing that Kakashi was starting to break out in cold-sweat behind his half-mask.

"Tsunade-sama, I really am not responsible for this. I... I... all the women I have slept with are... well. Kunoichi. And I know that all are accounted for."

Tsunade closed her eyes again in thought. She didn't say anything for the longest while, opening her eyes when she felt it had been long enough for Kakashi to have felt uncomfortable. Hmph. She supposed she should let him off, as he was still getting over the shock that he may have sired an illegitimate child.

It wasn't like he went his way to antagonize her; he only left her with all the paperwork, sowed public dissonance with his porn-reading on the street, and was only always late to meetings.

...Actually, he deserved it. For ruining her quiet, normal-day-with-no-headaches, if nothing else.

Her long silence had caused him to start fidgeting with his chakra.

Well, he should have suffered enough by now.

"... I believe you, Kakashi."

Kakashi gave a grateful bow. "Hokage-sama."

Tsunade took out a scroll and started writing.

"I want you to go and tell Shizune the names of the kunoichi you have... had intercourse with. Though I highly doubt it is the case, let's make sure none of them has... _hidden_ a pregnancy."

She handed Kakashi the scroll, now bearing her signature.

"Of course, I do not need to emphasize that this should be done discretely, do I, Hatake?"

With a fortifying gulp, Kakashi nodded. "N-no, Tsunade-sama."

"Dismissed."

{(S)}

Genma had been looking forward for the end of his physical therapy with Shizune. He had suffered through an extra week because a week before his therapy ended, his old teammate Gai had asked for a spar that he couldn't turn down.

So, he had been present when Kakashi came into Shizune's office, finishing up the last of the stretches he had to do.

"... Hatake-san?" Shizune turned from observing Genma to Kakashi, who had come in with a short knock.

"Shizune-san, Tsunade-sama sent me."

"Oh, how can I help you? Why don't you tell me while I finish up with Genma-san."

"... She told me to check on two kunoichis' medical files to check if there was a chance that they had hidden a pregnancy."

Kakashi flicked a discreet ANBU sign of 'classified' to Genma behind Shizune's back, who answered back with a 'recognized' with his fingers that could be mistaken for a scratch on his arm.

"Ah, alright. Just one moment please."

Grabbing a clipboard from her desk, Shizune faced Genma, who had just completed the last stretch.

"Genma-san, your leg is looking better, almost back to one hundred percent. Please, no extreme training for a week, which means absolutely no sparring with Gai."

She gave him a small glare as she scribbled something down. "I recommend taking a courier-run mission or other simple D or C-rank missions that involve traveling if you really wish to stretch your legs."

"Thanks, Shizune-san."

Genma left the medical office quickly, pondering the information from the unintentional eavesdropping. Hiding a pregnancy? So... a recently-found bastard child of one of the more well-known shinobi?

It must be pretty important for Kakashi to take it on.

He tucked away the information for later as he headed for the missions-desk, intent on getting a mission that let him run. He had stayed cooped up in the hospital and village too long.

Reporting to the missions-desk, he found the missions-desk chunin on duty talking with the Hokage.

"Ah, Genma."

"Good afternoon, Tsunade-sama."

"How's the leg? Shizune cleared you for missions?"

"She said it was healed and recommended me to take an easy mission."

"Ah, to stretch your legs? Good. I've got a short mission for you. Come, I'll debrief you."

Tsunade led the way to the adjacent soundproofed room put aside for private missions debriefs.

"This is a C-rank mission to the village of Namura, north of Obake woods. Do you know of the village?"

"I don't recall going to the village, no. But I think Obake woods were to the north of Tadasu town."

"You are correct. As for the village, it is very small, few hours northeast from Tadasu town, located inside the Obake woods. Three days ago they requested a shinobi to deal with the local bandit problem. Gai went and completed the mission,"

Tsunade started to write the mission on a scroll, continuing with the debrief as she wrote.

"He had no problems with the bandits, but found... someone in the village. A small girl about five or six years in age." She tossed Genma the mission scroll, then started writing a official looking letter in another scroll with the Hokage insignia on it.

"Her name is Kumiko. She has silver hair, suspected to have high-level intelligence, and was noticed to have similar behavioral characteristics as Hatake."

Genma's eyes widened.

"Everything else is conjecture. Perhaps a long-lost relative. You are to investigate all possibilities, whether that means Kakashi has gone against protocol, or it is just plain coincidence a child has an attitude of a Hatake along with their looks and skills set."

She sighed, then stamped her letter with the official Konoha insignia, making it as official as possible. She waited a moment for the ink to dry, blowing with a trace amount of chakra. As she rolled up the scroll, she continued.

"It is most likely that we are the first to notice her, but to avoid any chance that we weren't, I want you to bring her to Konoha right away."

She sealed the letter with sealing wax, then handed it to Genma.

"Gai noted that the parents were very loving. We don't really want to force the child, but she is in danger of being kidnapped. Make sure the foster parents understand that. Give her a few hours to say goodbye, then leave. If she really doesn't want to, send a hawk with a blood sample. I'll figure something out if it comes to that, but try your absolute best in convincing them leaving is the best option."

Genma nodded. "Hai, Tsunade-sama."

"Dismissed."

{(S)}

Around the time the Genma had reached Namura and was trying to persuade the mayor, mayor's wife, and the doctor about the importance of having the child protected in Konoha, the Hospital was becoming increasingly more agitated.

Tsunade-sama had decided to visit the hospital and start healing people instead of working on her regular duties at Hokage Tower.

This, of course meant that many patients were healed up a lot faster than before, but it also meant that even the most veteran of medics felt no better than rookies in front of The Medic. Every medic, veteran and rookie alike, shared a feeling of wishing they could bang their heads against a figurative wall for their own stupidity - a feeling that occurred often in the presence of Tsunade-_sama_, the last surviving _Legendary Sannin_.

Other, more perceptive shinobi wondered what was bothering Tsunade-sama now.

They had concluded that Tsunade-sama only sought out taking some of the healing duties at the hospital when she was thinking deeply about something or when she had a dilemma... or when she was trying to hide from the paperwork. But the latter case only happened once before, so surely Tsunade-sama was thinking deeply about the security of the village.

{(S)}

Tsunade was actually doing all the above, more of the third than the first two.

She had received the report from Shizune that none of the kunoichi the Hatake-brat referred to had hidden a pregnancy. Shizune had even been thorough enough to check over all kunoichi who had come into contact with Kakashi in missions six-seven years ago, but still came up blank.

Tsunade re-knit the split skin of a deep, bloody scratch on a woman's leg.

So whose was this child? Why such resemblance to Kakashi? Kakashi had been ransacking his family records for missing relatives, but so far, no clues were forthcoming.

Tsunade cast off the bloody gloves and snapped her fingers over her shoulder for a new pair of gloves. She felt more than saw the medic behind her scrambling to give them to her quickly.

Tsunade inwardly snorted, wondering when the rookies would realize that stumbling was unacceptable as a med-nin (The medic actually had four years of experience, which was pretty respectable for a medic, but let's focus on the big picture here) and train to make fluid movements in everything, not just in general dodge-training.

Tsunade went back to her important train of thought, healing up the broken wrist presented to her on the side.

Kakashi. Nothing could be done until news from Genma came back, hopefully with the child.

As soon as she finished strengthening the wrist with supplementary chakra, she threw away her gloves and walked out of the hospital room, deep in thought. As she headed back for Hokage Tower, she didn't notice that she had overlooked the civilian man's broken ankle, only healing up his broken wrist.

The other medics finished healing up the poor man's ankle.

{(S)}

Two days later the problematic mystery child was finally in Konoha.

The gate guards immediately notified the Hokage, who abandoned her paperwork to send a message to the hospital to prepare for a full medical checkup, with blood tests first.

Tsunade then waited a relatively long ten minutes for the child to arrive in her office.

When they did arrive, she went through the motions of threatening Genma of using the door instead of the windows, while making subtle signs for a detailed report after delivering the child to the hospital.

Out of the corner of her eye, she observed the little girl, who seemed to be of a small stature and very shy.

As soon as Genma led her away, Tsunade went down to the missions-desk and grabbed the closest chunin examining the missions board.

The 'lucky' chunin - the Aburame heir - was briefed of the situation of the illegitimate child with a potential blood-relation to one of the shinobi. He was given the short errand of observing the aforementioned child before his mission, and was told to stay with the girl until the further orders could be decided on.

By the time she came back to the Hokage office, Genma was ready to report.

"Report."

"Hai. Tanaka Kumiko is five years of age, birth date July 23rd. Suspected intelligence level is very high, a prodigy in terms of understanding and applying knowledge."

Genma and Tsunade shared a knowing look at that. Kakashi had been known to be a prodigy in his childhood as well, though for the shinobi arts.

"Social skills are high compared to other civilian children her age. Heightened sense of hearing and smell, on par with an untrained Inuzuka child. Unknown mother died from suffocation due to a kunai to the lung. She was about early to mid-thirties in age, with an unknown background. Midwife and foster mother noted that the mother's genetic traits of hair color and eyes was similar to those of the subject."

"A kunai to the lung?"

"Civilian-level tracking was attempted after the mother's death, showing that she came from the northwest of the Obake woods, possibly from Korishuku. The mother was suspected to be exposed to a shinobi fight that took place nearby. As far as the doctor could see, the kunai was not aimed at a vital area and only nicked the lung as she walked to the village."

Tsunade nodded her understanding, and motioned him to continue.

"Civilian inquiries to Korishuku, the nearest town northwest, has not found any new information. But she was said to have walked almost a mile while in labor. The villagers were impressed with her strength."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow at that. A mile while in labor was quite impressive, for a civilian.

"Last words were 'beautiful' to her child and 'care' to the midwife, which the midwife took to mean for the newborn child. The mayor decided it was," Genma paused, searching for the right word. "...fate that led the child to them. Believed it was Jizo who gave her to the village to care for, preparing them for the coming of the next generation."

"Hm."

"...Tsunade-sama, exactly what did Kakashi say about the possibility of having a bastard child?"

Tsunade evaded the question with a question.

"What would you conclude from the information you currently have on the child?"

"Well... if I didn't know Kakashi better, I would have said the girl was definitely his child. But I do know Kakashi, and he is not the type to be this... careless,"

As an afterthought, Genma added, "...if he even went against protocol for something not involving his teammates' safety."

Tsunade nodded, leaning against her interlocked fingers with closed eyes.

"We'll have to wait for the blood tests to be certain, but I was of the same opinion."

After a pause, she snapped her eyes open and ordered, "This is to be a A-rank secret, until blood relations are proven. If anyone asks, just say she's a long-lost relative. Understood?"

"Hai."

"You said she had a heightened sense of hearing and smell, but no other noticable heightened sensory skills?"

"Hai, Tsunade-sama." Tsunade started writing out a message in a scroll.

"Her accommodations are to be with the Inuzuka clan. Here, deliver this scroll to Tsume. Hana and Kiba should also be on leave, with plenty of time on their hands. They'll have enough help from their nin-ken to observe the girl."

Genma nodded to show his understanding.

Tsunade was about to wave him away in dismissal when she seemed to remember something. "Ah, Genma, on the way, you are to notify Aburame Shino at the hospital that he is to accompany the child to the Inuzuka compounds after her medical examination. You can tell him that the girl is staying with the Inuzuka for discreet observation and that the Inuzuka are aware of the situation. Dismissed."

With a salute, Genma moved to leave the Tower, pausing when his movement to the window got a raised eyebrow.

He was only going to open the window a little wider to... ah, air the room. Really. He _was_ intending to use the door to leave, not the window.

... At least, that's what he told himself as he made himself scarce from Tsunade-sama's presence, followed by her paperweight thrown with her legendary, chakra-enhanced strength.

Of course, he escaped using the window. Why waste the perfect getaway exit?

{(S)}

Waiting for the blood test results, Tsunade wrestled with the paperwork she had been trying to ignore for the past several hours.

From what she could see, the child - Kumiko - was a miniature-female-Kakashi. Her facial structure was almost exactly what Kakashi looked like when he was Kumiko's age.

Tsunade sighed as she pulled out another important looking paper to sign.

Then again, Kakashi was a masked-miniature-Sakum - she stopped in the middle of signing, unaware that there was now a big splotch of ink in the middle of the page.

Hatake Sakumo had been a bit of a womanizer before he had married and settled down. Almost as bad as Jiraiya had been... could it be?

She calculated the years.

If, if, before Kakashi, Sakumo had another child, he or she would be just the right age to have been Kumiko's parent - early to mid-thirties.

Kumiko's mother was said to have the same hair color and eye color of Kumiko.

A Hatake mother, perhaps one who didn't know she was a Hatake?

The chakra-flare accompanying a knock on the office door interrupted her thoughts.

"Tsunade-sama, the blood test results you wanted are here." An office-chunin handed her the results of the blood test comparison between Kakashi and Kumiko.

The results proved that they were _not father and daughter_. They were, at the closest, uncle and niece.

The long-lost relative theory was holding up, but their similarities in skill set refuted it quite cleanly. The similarities were too many in number for a distantly-related family member to, coincidentally, have as well. Genetics _did_ define a person's major personality traits and skill set, contrary to what most people thought. (Though, the environment, especially a traumatizing one, did have some influence on the personality as well)

They were cousins by far, though it was looking more like Sakumo had broken protocol instead of his son.

... So Kumiko was Kakashi's unknown niece.

"Get me Kakashi immediately. He should be finishing up with the clan council meeting. If he is in the middle of the meeting, tell him to adjourn the meeting for tomorrow."

Tsunade then remembered that Kakashi was a slippery one, especially when dodging responsibilities. "If... if he left behind a scarecrow or something and is not in the council room, check the family records division of the underground shinobi archives. Then send him along to me saying the blood test's results are in, and that there's been a... _breach_ in protocol. He'll come running."

The chunin tried not to flinch back at the evil smirk on the Godaime's face.

"H-hai, Tsunade-sama." He hoped for Kakashi-san's sake that he was in the meeting room, not in the archives.

{(S)}

Kakashi, who had been looking over family records of people who left Konoha in the archives, shivered when a cold draft blew on the back of his neck. The foreboding feeling from a few days ago had never really disappeared, but just now, he could have sworn it spiked.

Surely Tsunade-sama wouldn't know that he left a scarecrow in his stead midway through the council meeting... right?

The clan heads were not doing much except talking amongst themselves of the most recent gossip of the village, something about who had just gotten married and who had newborn children. The older clan heads were proudly showing off their grandnephews' and grandnieces' pictures to each other and the younger clan heads were bantering and bickering amongst themselves about how he or she was the best candidate for Shichidaime Hokage.

He would have left a Kage-bunshin, but with all the high-profile ninjas in the room, he had had a hard enough time switching places with the scarecrow.

It wasn't like the council meeting was for anything serious... just the confirmation of the Rokudaime Hokage candidate to step up for the Hokage position... But no one really had a problem with that, meaning all the official matters had actually ended fifteen minutes into the meeting.

He would be back in the meeting room by the time the clan heads had finished catching up and bickering, so no harm done.

...So why was his feeling of impending doom increasing?

{(S)}

The next ten minutes after Kakashi stepped into Tsunade-sama's office were said to be very tense for the office-chunin posted below the Hokage's office. Every ominous crash, creaking of floorboards, and dust from the ceiling only solidified their secret fear that they would die, not in enemy territory, but under the wreckage of the Hokage Tower.

{(S)}

"You have a older sister."

"...Tsunade-sama?"

"Unfortunately, she died. But she left a little girl behind."

"... Tsunade-sama, are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"Congratulations on becoming an Uncle."

Though Tsunade had been expecting some sort of reaction, it seemed that she would be disappointed.

Kakashi stayed frozen in his standby position he usually took when reporting.

After a few moments of silence, Tsunade cast a diagnostic jutsu to make sure that the legendary ninja wasn't undergoing shock.

Perhaps she should have broken the news a little more gently?

...Nah. Kakashi deserved it for making her suffer through paperwork.

{(S)}

Kakashi still couldn't believe it.

His father, Hatake Sakumo, the White Fang of Konoha, had an illegitimate child outside of Konoha.

... Kakashi had even met him after his death during the Pein invasion, and he forgot to mention the little fact that he had another child?

Even if his father didn't know of it... wouldn't being dead mean getting some sort of omnipotent powers?

And not only that, the older sister he apparently had a daughter, meaning that the closest known relative was himself.

... He knew he was an eligible bachelor of Konoha, but he had planned on being the eternal bachelor of Konoha. He had enough trouble from teaching his genin and didn't want to go through the trouble of having a kid to baby-sit until _it_ was grown up enough to take care of itself.

While Kakashi was still freaking out (there was no other way to describe what he was doing), Tsunade was waving a hand across his blank eyes and saying his name into his ears.

A somewhat gentle chakra-laden flick to his hitai-ate finally woke him up from his shock.

Only then did Kakashi realize that his sensitive ears were ringing from Tsunade-sama's near-shouting in his ear.

"So, finally back?"

Kakashi gave her a small nod and a near inaudible 'hai'.

"I'm sure you know that you are the closest relation to the girl."

There was a squeak, or what someone might have sworn was a squeak, that came from Kakashi's direction. But it couldn't be Kakashi, as he never squeaked. Not even when he first met Gai in his spandex and was declared to be his 'Eternal Rival'.

Tsunade had a knowing smirk on her face, but turned serious again as she continued.

"From the information that Genma has found in the girl's village, the mother - your sister was unable to give any sort of information about the father, as she couldn't speak from choking. This means you are her acting guardian. I will send a messenger to the girl's hometown letting them know that she does have relations in the village, and will be staying with them."

"..."

"Yes, you have to. Who else is she going to stay with?" Tsunade turned around towards her desk and picked up some papers.

"Your apartment is not suitable for two people. Go get a new apartment today. And some furniture. She's going to be staying with the Inuzuka until your apartment is ready. Knowing you, you'll take a week to get the whole place together, with all the knickknacks in your apartment and the necessary security. But this _does not mean you are to avoid her until the last moment_."

Kakashi flinched, for that was exactly what he was thinking. Just prepare the apartment, give the girl a room, feed her, clothe her, send her to daycare... maybe, _maybe_ train her, but just avoid all contact besides the basics.

"Kakashi, this is not a genin team. From what I've heard from Sakura, you didn't do much except maintaining the team dynamics, not giving them enough time to focus on individual strengths. This is a child. A child needs much, if not constant, attention. Think of it as 24/7 ANBU duty, only you don't hide."

Kakashi stayed silent, and Tsunade watched him a moment, before she gave a small sigh.

"Forget the apartment for now, and go see your niece. Introduce yourself as her Uncle. No one has told her who she is related to or how she's related yet. For all she knows, she might get a younger sibling or a grandfather on his deathbed. Get to know each other before she moves in with you."

"Tsunade-sama - "

"No arguments. Consider it... an adopted puppy in your pack. Who will stay indefinitely, probably permanently. Well?"

Kakashi sighed deeply, clearly burdened by the task. He bowed with a subdued,

"I'll do my best, Hokage-sama."

"Hmph. As you should. I will try and delay the Rokudaime inauguration to three months later instead of two. The paperwork should be better, as I have trained three secretaries."

_So that was how Tsunade-sama still took shifts at the hospital,_ Kakashi mused. _I wonder if I can still be late to meetings._

"Don't you _dare_ think that this gives you an excuse to be late. I have instructed all three that if you are more than ten minutes late for an inexcusable reason, they are free to drop their work for a whole week, leaving you with all the work."

"Maa, you really do think of everything, Tsunade-sama."

"Of course. I've wanted to get rid of the paperwork for several years now. What better way besides 'Divide and Conquer?'"

"Hai, hai." Kakashi gave a salute and started out of the office.

"And I haven't been distracted enough to forget to tell you to go to your niece for introductions right _now_."

Kakashi sighed. He had hoped she would forget to specify _when_, as he could claim he was going to do it... eventually. He supposed that Tsunade-sama had years of practice of sidestepping distractions in political settings, so his relative inexperience in avoiding the topic didn't compare.

"Hai, Tsunade-sama."

{(S)}

Kakashi was nervous. He hadn't been this on edge since he had watched the battle between Naruto and Sasuke from afar.

He was situated in a tree that was near the Inuzuka main entrance, fidgeting with his threadbare uniform. He almost let himself pace on the branch of the tree he was waiting on. _Almost_, but he was Kakashi, the man of a thousand jutsu, sensei of the three Dragons of Konoha. He couldn't exactly start showing his nervousness in public.

Aburame Shino's approaching chakra signature, and an unfamiliar chakra signature brought his attention to the road.

There she was.

His newfound niece.

She looked remarkably like himself, of course, in a much more feminine manner. He was strangely reminded of a time when he had been a genin and mask-less before he started making the mask a part of his never-changing uniform.

Her eyes were a dark brown reminiscent of dark amber compared to his dark storm-cloud gray. Her hair didn't defy gravity like his did. It stayed down in shoulder-length straight locks; silver, borderline steel-gray in color. Very Hatake.

He hesitated in appearing in front of them, as the girl - Tanaka Kumiko - seemed absorbed in watching the village and scenery around her.

Shino was not yet up to the level of sensing his hidden chakra signature, one of the best trackers or not. He did not notice Kakashi watching from the branch.

Kakashi took a deep, fortifying breath. He was never going to be able to talk to her if he kept stalling. He prepared to jump down, when Shino suddenly stopped walking and looked up at a tree behind him.

_"Kiba, come out now. Why? Your temporary charge has arrived."_

Inuzuka Kiba and his canine partner, Akamaru, dropped down behind his niece.

_"Aww, Shino, you're no fun! I totally wanted to surprise the kid!"_

Several loose leaves drifted down from the branch where Kakashi had been only a moment before. Shino and Kiba took note of the leaves as the product of a shunshin, but concluded it to have come from a passing ANBU.

Kakashi was nowhere to be found.

* * *

**A/N** - As promised, a new chapter! (Happy early Halloween!)

I know what you're all thinking. Kakashi is _not_ Kumiko's father?

Well, it does seem pretty out of character for Kakashi, a careful and intelligent shinobi, to create a security risk for his village.

So, Sakumo, who was in the same age-group as Jiraiya, has become a womanizer for the sake of plot. (I mean, he doesn't come out often in the manga...)

Hint, hint about the next Rokudaime: it's _not_ Naruto. (I think it's pretty obvious who it is, though...)

Hehe.

Cyber-love to all my Viewers/Reviewers. (Gosh, guys, thanks for all your Views/Reviews!)


	6. Chapter 6: Doggie Patrol

*2014-11-12 Edit: Copy&Paste method is unreliable. Author's Note updated.

*2014-11-11 Edit: Some words were cut out from the original during the copy&paste process. A/N updated.

* * *

**Previously:**

_Kakashi took a deep, fortifying breath. He was never going to be able to talk to her if he kept stalling. He prepared to jump down, when Shino suddenly stopped walking and looked up at a tree behind him._

"Kiba, come out now. Why? Your temporary charge has arrived."

_Inuzuka Kiba and his canine partner, Akamaru, dropped down behind his niece._

"Aww, Shino, you're no fun! I totally wanted to surprise the kid!"

_Several loose leaves drifted down from the branch where Kakashi had been only a moment before. Shino and Kiba took note of the leaves as the product of a shunshin, but concluded it to have come from a passing ANBU._

_Kakashi was nowhere to be found._

* * *

**Chapter 6: Doggie Patrol**

(Posted 2014-11-11, Updated 2014-11-12)

At the memorial stone, a well-known figure dropped from a shinshun with a small breeze. Several leaves floated down to rest on top of the memorial stone.

Kakashi sighed, and brushed the leaves off.

"Sensei... Obito... Rin..."

He could hear them now.

_Bakakashi! You coward!_

_Kakashi-kun, don't make me come after you!_

_Kakashi, don't abandon a child; it's almost as bad as betraying the village. I understand you weren't able to be there for Naruto, but that and this is two different cases. ...So what are you still doing here?_

Kakashi sighed. It had been a while since he had come to the stone, but he had searched it out twice more than he usually did in the past week.

His teammates in Team 7 had not allowed him to brood in the first place, but this was the first in several years that all members of team 7 were out on missions or busy enough with their work to forget he had a tendency to grieve.

...He really needed to stop distracting himself and face his niece.

What was it that Sensei had often said to him?

'Under the wing of a strong leader, cowardice cannot survive'?

... He certainly wasn't living up to the name of a strong leader now.

How was he supposed to take up the Rokudaime Hokage title if he couldn't face a small girl who was supposed to be the daughter of a woman who he had no idea was his sister?

Not for the first time, he blamed Obito for making him take up the mantle of Hokage until Naruto was ready.

_I'm going to step down as soon as Naruto hits jonin and learns how to run the village..._

He ran a hand through his hair.

_I have to go find a new apartment big enough for two, possibly more, as Tenzo will more likely than not stay over from time to time..._

Not that a bigger apartment would make a dent in his savings. He had barely used any of his mission pay for the past several years.

A breeze swept by, carrying the many loose leaves left over from a shunshin. Absentmindedly, he followed the path of one to find himself facing Hokage mountain.

_Ahh... Tsunade-sama with her frown..._

That's right, she would probably check if he did go see his niece... Well, she never said he had to go _himself_ to tell her who she was related to...

"Kuchiyose-no-jutsu(1)!"

Amidst a minimum of smoke, a small brown pug appeared wearing a hitai-ate and vest. On its blue vest was a heno-heno-moheji(2).

After the pug made sure that he was not in the middle of a situation that called for evasion skills, he turned to Kakashi with a lazy scratch to his ear.

"Kakashi, why did you call me? I was about to enjoy a nice nap..."

"Pakkun, I need you to..."

_Go and talk to a civilian girl?_ _Who may or may not freak out over the fact that dogs can talk? Introduce himself and his summoner to the said girl? Explain that the summoner was actually the uncle of the aforementioned girl? Did he mention that she was a _civilian_?_

"Well?"

"...Hmm."

Pakkun looked strangely at his summoner.

"Kakashi?"

"I need you to go to the Inuzuka compound and introduce yourself to a little girl named Kumiko. She will have... the scent of some dried flowers: jasmine, pansy, and some other flower scent I can't seem to place from the top of my head."

The ninken nodded to show his understanding, then waited for Kakashi to continue briefing him about the situation.

When Kakashi remained silent, thinking about something, Pakkun took a sniff at his summoner's clothes. That was not a flower smell, that smelled too old, that... smelled about right.

_...Kakashi didn't actually come into contact with the source of the scent?_

"Hey, Kakashi, why do I need to go talk to someone you didn't even meet yet?"

Kakashi flinched, but quickly covered the action with a wave of his hand.

"Maa, maa, that's not really important, Pakkun."

Pakkun gave his summoner a deadpan stare. Kakashi sweat-dropped.

When his summoner didn't elaborate, Pakkun sighed and placed one of his paws on his face that looked eerily like a human facepalm.

"Well? What kind of introduction am I supposed to give this girl?"

With a considering look at his summon, Kakashi gave a cautious proposal.

"...Why don't you suggest she touch your paw pa -"

"No."

Pakkun did not even look at his summoner, choosing to examine his nails for any chips instead. Kakashi waited for his summon to reconsider, but after waiting with no sign of Pakkun yielding, Kakashi gave up.

"... Maa, such a bad summon, not listening to the summoner."

"Not when the summoner is being unreasonable and not telling the summon all there is to the mission before sending him off."

"..."

Pakkun gave his summoner the most caustic (but cute) stare he could make with his half-closed eyes and sad-looking face. Puppy-eyes level 8.

Kakashi raised his hands in a defensive, appeasing manner with a sigh.

"...Alright, alright. The little girl... she's... related to me."

Pakkun raised one of his eyebrows in an unasked question.

"It seems my otou-san had not exactly been... celibate before marrying okaa-san, and had a daughter out of wedlock. Who... in turn, had another daughter before her death five years ago."

"So, this little girl is your niece and Sakumo's granddaughter? ...Let me guess. Your dead older half-sister didn't know about her Hatake heritage, and you want me to go and talk to your niece about it."

Kakashi nodded, then hesitated once more, wondering how to explain why he _had_ to talk to his niece instead of watching from afar. Pakkun saw this hesitation and came to the correct conclusion.

"...Tsunade-sama gave the girl's guardianship over to you as well, didn't she?"

"..."

"Seriously? And you are avoiding the girl? Kuniko-or-something-chan?"

"...It's Kumiko-chan. Tanaka Kumiko."

"Kakashi, _you_, not me, are going to talk to your niece about changing her surname."

At Kakashi's silence, Pakkun glanced up and added, "That is, if you want her to."

"..."

"...You owe me a big dog treat for making the Noble Dog summon _Pakkun-sama_ to do such a mundane job as this. The biggest one you can find."

"...Hai, hai."

{(S)}

_Inuzuka compound_

Kumiko spent a long time trying to soak in the sights of the many different dogs around her, getting a good view from the giant dog she was riding.

They were walking through a small crowd dogs of various size and shape. She stared at all the dog pelts around her: she couldn't help marveling at a soft-looking one, gaping at rough but interestingly-colored one, and wondering at a glimpse of a bald-looking one! She hoped she was allowed to touch them...

As they walked through the diverse and large canine population (which slowly resumed their activities after the new scent was analyzed to be a _non-threat_), Kiba explained where they were.

"Welcome to the Inuzuka clan compound! The best clan in Konoha, ever!"

He pointed towards the general area where the dogs were.

"As you can probably tell, the Inuzuka clan is a ninja clan that works closely with dog partners. The guy you're riding, that's my partner! He's the best nin-ken around!"

They slowly approached a big house, wading through the canine population. When they neared the house, Kiba yelled towards the house.

"Kaa-san! Kuromaru(3)! She's here!"

Kumiko looked up at the house. It was a two-story home with a large open area of packed dirt in front.

There were several large trees planted in strategic spots to give shade, and under one large tree in particular, there was a wooden platform that was the perfect height for sitting down.

Three ash-gray colored dogs were stretched out on it, lying about. At their approach, one raised his head to see who had come by, but as soon as it saw Kiba, the ash-gray dog went back to sleep.

When Kumiko looked back to Kiba, he saw where she was looking at and simply said their names.

"They are the Haimaru brothers(4). Triplets. They're my nee-san's nin-ken partners."

Kiba sniffed the air, then tapped his foot muttered, "Where is she going? She was here a moment ago..."

Crossing his arms as he turned towards the Haimaru brothers, he asked them,"Hey, you guys know where kaa-san went? and where Kuromaru is?"

"Right behind you."

At the deep scratchy voice, the dog she was riding on flinched slightly, and both the dog and Kiba turned around quickly to face a black dog with an eye-patch.

Kuromaru, a giant black dog with a soft white fur on his chest, was sitting down on his haunches and observing them, specifically at Kumiko. He gave no outer reaction to the grumbles of the dog she was riding or Kiba's mutterings which sounded suspiciously like 'oroka rouken(5)'.

Kumiko slowly slid off the soft back of her ride, stroking the soft fur behind the ruff as a thank you for the nice ride.

She turned to the black dog again and found him watching her movements with a sharp eye. She noticed that along with having only one eye, the black dog didn't have an ear as well.

The black dog spoke again in the deep scratchy voice that reminded her of one of her uncles in Namura, who had a loud and deep belly-laugh that echoed throughout the village.

"So, is this the pup we are supposed to look after for a week?"

The dog next to her barked, and Kiba gave a small nod.

Kumiko decided to be polite, giving a small bow with her greeting.

"Hajimemashite(6), Kuromaru-san."

Kuromaru gave a small growl back, but his stiff tail which had stayed in place started to sway from side to side. It wasn't quite a wag, but from the slight relaxing she felt from the dog whose neck she was still scratching, she had passed some kind of test.

"Don't bother with honorifics with dogs, pup. That's nonsense you only need for other humans. It's just Kuromaru."

"Aa, okay, ...Kuromaru?" Kumiko tilted the name as if a question, testing out how it sounded and making sure she was correct.

From wagging tail of the dog next to her and the small smile on Kiba's face, she was reassured that her small mistake was already forgiven.

Kiba sniffed the air again and glanced back towards the way they had come. "So, Kuromaru. Where's kaa-san?"

"She went to go buy some new pillows. Some of the newborn pups decided that the unmarked pillows left out were good enough to use for a game of tug-of-war."

Kuromaru gave a small snort. "They were... appropriately punished."

"Oh."

Kumiko wondered what kind of punishment it was for Kiba to wince and his canine partner to give a sympathetic whine.

"Well, let's wait for kaa-san here then. Hey guys!" Kiba called to the three gray dogs napping under the shade.

"Can you guys get Hana-neesan? She's supposed to be here when kaa-san introduces Kumiko-chan."

The three slowly got up, shook out their fur and started walking towards a small house to the right of the main house near the walls of the compound a short distance away.

But before they walked several steps, Kuromaru barked several times, which caused the triplets and the dog next to her to tense up and give the older dog their full attention. As soon as Kuromaru stopped barking, all four dogs ran off somewhere, leaving a clueless Kumiko and a sweat dropping Kiba.

Kuromaru turned his sharp eyes to Kiba and huffed, "Hmph. I'll let Tsume decide what to do with you, pup."

He then walked over to the bench that the Haimaru brothers had vacated and lied down.

Confused, Kumiko looked up at Kiba for an explanation.

Kiba scratched at his triangular marks with an embarrassed look.

"Aa, well, he just told us that we all needed to work harder on our situational awareness skills... they were sent off on a kind of... short training lap."

"Oh."

A brief silence filled the clearing.

"Ne, nii-san. Why does Shiromaru(7) look different from Kuromaru and the Haimaru brothers?"

"...Who's Shiromaru?"

Kumiko blinked at him.

"Your partner."

"You mean Akamaru(8)?"

"...Aka...maru? But he's white, not red."

"He turns red when he does a special technique with me by eating a soldier pill."

"But... did you know Akamaru turn red from the first day you two met? How did you know he would turn red and not blue?"

"Huh... good question..." Kiba struck up a thinking pose with closed eyes and a hand under his chin. Then suddenly, he placed a fist in his hand with an enlightened expression on his face.

"From the moment Akamaru and I met, I knew we would become the best nin-duo ever! That's how I knew Akamaru would turn red before he even tried doing the combo with me!"

Kumiko couldn't help but give Kiba a deadpan stare. Even she, a five-year-old, could tell he was not being honest. Before she had a chance to say anything, a husky woman's voice came from the direction of the gates.

"Kiba, stop filling the pup's ears with crap."

A woman with wild brown hair and same triangular marks as Kiba came into view, carrying two pillows under each arm.

"But, kaa-san, it's so much fun!"

The woman outright ignored him and turned to Kumiko.

"So, this is the pup?"

"Hajimemashite, oba-san."

"I want none of that formality bullsh - I mean, idiocy. Just call me Tsume or Inu-bachan(9) or something."

Kumiko quirked her head to the side. 'Tsume' sounded too informal, and 'Inu-bachan' didn't sound _exactly_ right.

"...Then, Ha-basan(10)?"

After a moment of silence, during which everyone connected the 'tooth' to Tsume's appearance, Kuromaru gave a small snort. Tsume gave a bark of laughter and ruffled Kumiko's hair.

"Hah! I like this one! Yeah, call me Ha-basan."

"Hey, hey! Does that mean I'm Ha-neesan?"

Kumiko turned to find a younger woman with similar triangular, tooth-like shapes on her cheeks.

"Umm... hai...? But are there more people with triangles on their faces...? Then I can't..."

This new person chuckled at that.

"There are only three people in the clan with these marks right now. My name is Hana, but you can call me Ha-neesan as long as you call kaa-san 'Ha-basan' and Kiba 'Ha-niisan'."

Kumiko solemnly nodded, causing Hana to giggle.

"Ne, Ha-neesan, are you the nee-san Ha-niisan mentioned? The partner of the Haimaru brothers?"

"Hai." She turned to Kiba. "Talking about Haimaru... Why are they running around the compound anyway?"

"Aa... well..."

Kuromaru turned to Hana and barked twice, which made her huff in exasperation.

"Seriously, Kuromaru. How are they supposed to be aware of you when you are as sneaky as a shadow?"

Tsume gave a snort. "He's still going easy on them."

She turned to her son. "Kiba, I also expect you to do an extra set of training exercises with a standard handicap after this."

"But - !"

"Want me to increase that to level two handicap training?"

Kiba shivered. Hana hid a small smirk behind a hand.

"N-no, I'll do them, I'll do them!"

Tsume looked satisfied with the answer. Jumping onto the platform next to Kuromaru, she loudly whistled a sequence using her first two fingers.

All of a sudden, dogs came pouring into the clearing; some from the trees, most from the open area Kumiko had passed through, and a few from underground.

Tsume called out in a loud voice. "Attention!"

All movements stilled as all the dogs turned their attention to Tsume.

"Starting today, this girl is going to stay in the compound for a week! If there ever is a time when she looks to be alone, fall back to Inuzuka academy student protocols! Be discreet if she doesn't want company. Let your partners know of this development, code blue! Am I understood?"

At that, there was a synchronized answer of barks, yips, woofs, and various versions of 'Hai, Alpha'.

Tsume nodded in satisfaction.

"Good. Dismissed."

While most dogs scattered back to where they had been before, some of the dogs approached Kumiko to take a better whiff of her scent.

Of course, they were quite polite about it. The ones that could talk introduced themselves, while the ones that couldn't barked at either Kiba or Hana, who translated their introductions for her.

They even allowed Kumiko to give a them small pat and touch their fur. She did her best to remember their names and partners.

Soon, only one dog was left. It was a small brown pug, and it introduced itself.

At the sight of the dog, Kiba and Hana's eyes widened in recognition and surprise.

Kumiko remained oblivious to their reactions, more focused on the dog's paw pads he was raising in greeting like a hand. All the other dogs' paw pads had been tough looking, but this pug's pink ones looked quite soft. She wondered if asking to touch them were impolite dog manners.

"Yo. I'm Pakkun, partner to Kakashi."

"Hajimemashite, Pakkun."

"I will stay with you today." Then the summon dog turned to the Inuzuka Alpha, giving her an exasperated look. At that Tsume snorted, muttering 'lazy ass'. (Kumiko realized the significance of that mutter many days later)

Tsume cleared her throat and gave a hard stare at Kumiko.

"Pup, today you are to stay within the compounds with Pakkun. You can wander around anywhere inside and outside, unless one of the dogs or people stop you." Kuromaru looked up and gave Kumiko a sharp look as well.

"Is it clear that you are to stay _inside_ the compound?"

Kumiko nodded. Both Tsume and Kuromaru looked pleased at her compliance.

"Hmm. Good. Not so troublesome as your gaki, Tsume." Kuromaru half-growled as he laid his head back down on his paws, his eye half-open.

At that, Tsume quickly turned and barked at her son, who was trying to sneak away, probably to escape his extra training.

"Kiba! Get her things from the office-chunin at the Hokage tower and place them in the guest room. I expect you to go do the extra training exercise immediately afterwards. Am I understood?"

"H-hai, kaa-san..."

Kiba plodded dejectedly toward the main gates of the compound, while Hana waved to Kumiko with a brief 'see you at dinner' and leisurely made her way towards the smaller house near the compound walls.

The Inuzuka Alpha then led Kumiko and Pakkun along a road that circled around to the back of the big house. They came into another clearing, this one with training targets on one end and a small stream on the other.

Tsume vaguely gestured towards the field and explained, "This is the basic training ground for the dogs. The dogs usually use it as the main meeting place though. You can think of it as a plaza of sorts, where they greet and gossip with each other."

Kumiko took a tentative sniff. The smell of overturned dirt, some kind of oil, leather, and metal made up the majority of the scents in the clearing, with the subtler scents intertwining confusingly with each other, reminding her of the marketplace she had seen on the way to the Hokage tower.

She turned back to Tsume to find her watching with an eyebrow raised.

When Kumiko looked away in embarrassment, Tsume chuckled and asked her what she smelled.

"Just a lot of overturned dirt, oil, leather and metal... and a lot of other confusing smells, Ha-basan."

"Aa." Tsume shared a look with Pakkun again, then turned to Kumiko with a small smile.

"Pup, I need to get back to do some work, so stick with Pakkun, alright? He is familiar with the compound and knows enough of the human world to answer all your questions. Ask him whatever, and if you need me, just yell for Kuromaru, got it?"

"Hai, Ha-basan. Um. I'll see you later...?"

"Yeah, I'll call you in ten minutes before dinner. Feel free to roll around in the dirt, climb the trees, or heck, jump in the water for a swim."

"...Aa. Thank you, Ha-basan."

{(S)}

Pakkun was a small pug, with soft brown fur and darker brown ears, tails and face.

_His half-closed eyes made him look sleepy and really cute..._

Kumiko spent a several minutes walking around the training ground with him, silently sniffing strongly-scented areas with him and slowly differentiating the subtler scents in the clearing.

When they reached the small stream, Kumiko turned to the small pug with a question.

"Pakkun, how come some of the dogs can talk while others can't?"

"It depends on the dog. Some of them don't want to learn the human language, while some want to coordinate better with their human partners, so take the time to learn to communicate better."

After a slight pause, Pakkun continued.

"The Inuzuka clan has a Kekkai-Genkai of sorts; they can understand canine language, so it's not as necessary for the dog partners to learn the human language for their teamwork. That's why Kuromaru can talk while Akamaru can't."

"Aa, okay." Kumiko gazed down at the stream, where she could see some small fish swimming in the clear water. She sat down on a rock and carefully took off her sandals.

As she dipped her feet into the cold water, she asked the quiet dog another question.

"...Pakkun? Could you tell me more about your partner? ...Kakashi, right?"

She looked at the heno-heno-moheji on the dog's vest. A scarecrow... this Kakashi person seemed to be a humorous person, if he made his dog partner to wear his 'name'.

Pakkun seemed to steel himself and took a deep breath before starting with, "Well, his name is Hatake Kakashi, elite jonin of Konoha..."

Kumiko shifted and settled more comfortably in her seat, catching Pakkun's story-time voice.

She slowly paddled her feet through the cool water and wondered if it was going to be a good story...

* * *

Footnotes:

(1) Kuchiyose-no-jutsu: Summoning jutsu

(2) Heno-heno-moheji: a face drawn using hirigana characters. Usually the faces are of scarecrows.

(3) Kuromaru: 'Kuro' - black. 'Maru' - an often-used ending for a name

(4) Haimaru: 'Hai' - ash, gray. 'Maru' - an often-used ending for a name

(5) Oroka rouken: Stupid Old dog/Aged dog

(6) Hajimemashite: Nice to meet you

(7) Shiromaru: 'Shiro' - white. 'Maru' - an often-used ending for a name

(8) Akamaru: 'Aka' - red. 'Maru' - an often-used ending for a name (Up till now, Kuromaru and Haimaru were named for their fur, which explains Kumiko's confusion over Akamaru's name)

(9) Inu-bachan: Dog-Auntie

(10) Ha-basan: Tooth-Aunt

Other general name explanations:

Inuzuka: 'Inu' - dog. 'Zuka' - hill or mound.

Kiba - fang

Hana - nose (or flower, but it is written as nose)

Tsume - claw, talon

Kakashi - scarecrow

* * *

**A/N** - Oh, Kakashi. Your shinobi skills amount to almost nothing when you become a parent/guardian...

Sorry for the slightly late update, people. Some unexpected work (read, 'work-I-must-do-to-keep-myself-fed') popped up and I couldn't spend as much time on the story as I liked.

People, a shout-out for reviewers and PMers that gave me constructive criticism and helped me make my story better. Your critiques are greatly appreciated! Leave a review/PM on what you liked, what you hated, etc. etc. It can even be one word reviews... If you remain silent, I don't know if it was a good chapter or not. :)

By the way, the genre of this fic has changed from **Hurt/Comfort** to **Family **and** Humor**. I don't think there is (nor will there be) much of the "Hurt" part of the Hurt/Comfort genre in this fic...

Next chapter, Kakashi and Kumiko will finally meet! (Fin-all-y!)

Lots of cyber-love for Reviewers/Viewers!


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